Liberty Women’s Soccer gets Big South win in first conference game of the year

• Lady Flames win first Big South conference game 1-0 after struggling to win in non-conference games.
• Lady Flames are still struggling to find net and convert chances to score into scoring.

During Liberty’s first conference game against Gardner-Webb, senior midfielder Isabella Habuda’s goal in the 50th minute proved to be the decider in the 1-0 victory Saturday, Sept. 23, at Osborne Stadium.

After applying pressure to Gardner-Webb’s defense, Liberty finally broke through with Habuda’s score on an assist from junior forward Devon Jones. The Lady Flames had many chances to score throughout the game, but were unable to convert most of their chances.

“We’re still missing that ability to [get] the final touch,” Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer said.

Habuda and sophomore forward Gabrielle Farrell made the most of their playtime, as they generated a combined eight shots out of the Lady Flames 20.

“We had so many chances, we just needed someone to put it away,” Habuda said.

The Lady Flames defense played a big role in the game, especially in the first half, allowing only one shot and none on goal in the first half.

“I think our midfield defense was pretty good today,” Wedemeyer said. “I think they read the game really well. They constantly created counterattacks throughout the game. I think they put themselves in good positions to make plays and tackled well.”

Liberty did not allow a single corner kick until the late stages of the second half, doing its best to avoid breakaways from the opposing team.

The women’s soccer team has struggled to find the net this year, so winning their first conference match of the year gave the Lady Flames a needed confidence boost.

“Any Big South game is going to be a tough competition,” Wedemeyer said.  “And to get the first win was good.”

Habuda said the team’s hard work during practice has translated nicely onto the field.

“We had a hard week of practices, so we were able to do a lot of stuff that we worked on at practice in today’s game,” Habuda said.

Liberty looks to keep up the momentum in another Big South matchup at Williams Stadium Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m.