Men’s soccer wins in overtime in first conference game of the year
- Tough fight from the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs keeps Flames from scoring until the 98th minute with the game’s only goal.
- Resilience and a new formation help the team to victory.
After 98 scoreless minutes, junior forward Tresor Mbuyu scored a game-winning goal in overtime to reward the Flames with a victory on its conference opening game against Gardner-Webb.
The Flames finished the game with 12 shots on goal, and Gardner-Webb only five.
Despite the Runnin’ Bulldogs leading the Big South in goals per game, captain and defender Nico Bellarde said the Flames handled Gardner-Webb’s high-powered attack well.
“For our guys to slow their offense down is a tribute to their willingness to work and compete,” Coach Jeff Alder said.
At the 99th minute of the game Alex Dominguez ran the ball to Pepe Segarra who passed it to Tresor Mbuyu to get the winning goal.
Mbuyu said it was the team’s effort that got them their first win of conference play.
“It was one of the goals that was not scripted but the guys just found a way to get it in the net,” Alder said. “We knew it was going to swing on one play, so we kept it alive.”
Mbuyu said Gardner-Webb’s defense was pretty good, and they kept up a fight until the end.
“Gardner-Webb’s defense is like ours, they don’t give up a lot of shots or chances,” Alder said. “Our guys got on the end of a ball and broke them down to beat them, we did enough.”
Alder said Liberty was resilient during Tuesday’s game, and they were committed from front to back for the entire 99 minutes.
The game was continually slowed down as the referees called 23 fouls on Liberty and 20 on Gardner-Webb.
“They were high pressing so we knew we had to be on top of them the same way,” Bellarde said.
Bellarde said the team was using a different formation, and he loves it. It is called the five-back system. He said it gives them more coverage. One of their center backs can push forward and have more freedom while the other two can drop back for more cover. Because of this, the outside backs have more freedom to go up and down the line.
“In overtime, we did not expect to score early on, they were on top of us, but we were able to keep going and pushing until the goal,” Bellarde said.
Alder said the highlight of the game for him was watching the guys run from one end to the other, all in. He said the entire team, whether on the sidelines or in play, kept the momentum.
“We expected a tough match and that is what we got, we played better and defended our home turf,” Bellarde said.
Alder said the team gives the win to the Lord, and will keep their focus on Christ.
“God gets the glory, we are humble in victory, gracious in defeat and it is all about Him,” Alder said.
The Flames will look to defend Osborne stadium against Longwood University O