Men’s soccer beats Winthrop on Senior Day

• Liberty Men’s soccer overcomes Senior Day emotions to beat Winthrop University 1-0 for a chance to place in the championship.
• For a chance to beat Radford University on Wednesday, the Flames plan to work on communication and a higher intensity.

Liberty Men’s Soccer defeated Winthrop 1-0 on Senior Day, dropping Winthrop from the tournament and keeping Liberty eligible for first or second place in the championship.

 

Junior midfielder Kevin Mendoza received a penalty kick at the 58th minute after being hunted down by Winthrop.

 

“I kind of found a penalty kick because I knew the guy was coming after me,” Mendoza said. “I was waiting until the keeper chose one side and I went the other.”

 

Players were not impressed with their performance during Saturday’s game, having higher expectations playing Winthrop.

 

“We came in thinking it was going to be an easy game and we underestimated it and played to their level,” captain defender Nico Bellarde said

 

Coach Jeff Alder said Senior Day can make the game challenging to start strong, which he thinks impacted the players.

 

“Senior days are already difficult because they are emotional,” Alder said. “For 20 minutes, you go stand there and recognize those guys, which is fantastic because I love them, but unfortunately you lose your flow and your rhythm.”

 

Mendoza said they need to focus on communication and they need to do it before Wednesday’s game against Radford.

 

“This next game is going to be a hard one and we need to improve,” Mendoza said.

 

Bellarde said the energy level is another situation that they are working toward because it has been an issue for the last couple of games.

 

“Our energy from the start of the game needs improvement, the past two or three games we have been very lackadaisical on the ball,” Bellarde said.

 

Bellarde said that they need to focus on starting with a higher intensity as well and that can help their communication.

 

Bellarde said the team knew they were going to play hard, considering the circumstance Winthrop was in.

 

“We were pretty sure they were going to come out strong because they had to win today to even be considered for the tournament,” Bellarde said. “We knew they were going to come give it their all and they did just that.”

 

The game consisted of 21 fouls and five yellow cards on Winthrop, and Liberty performed 11 fouls and received two yellow cards.

 

Liberty’s goalie took three saves and Winthrop’s took five. Liberty shot 10 times and Winthrop seven.

 

Winthrop also received four corner kicks and Liberty none.  Both teams played tough and rough, but Liberty pulled the win in the end.

 

Alder said regardless of the way they played on Saturday’s game, they still managed to perform like champions because they found a way to get a win.

 

“We just didn’t play well, we didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t move the ball well, but like I told them the true sign of a champion is even when you are not at your best you can still find a way to win,” Alder said.

 

Bellarde said getting the win was big because they kept up their momentum to keep the lead on their home field.

 

“Just getting the win was huge because we kept going and going and going,” Bellarde said. “We didn’t drop down our heads. We just kept pushing until the end of the game.”

 

Alder said the team is still fighting for first or second place, and it still has that chance of grasping one or the other.

 

“We praise God. We learn from it. We grow from it. We get better from it,” Alder said. “And with that said, we are still battling to try and finish first and second place.”