Liberty University Men’s Soccer team begins second season in ASUN with fresh mix of talent

Though change always comes with a new year, this year’s season for Liberty’s men’s soccer brings with it a unique period of transition for the Flames under new Head Coach Kelly Findley.  

Taking over after last year’s season from Jeff Alder, former Flames player and coach of the team for 19 years, Findley comes to Liberty having coached college soccer since 1999, including at NC State from 2011 to 2016, according to Liberty’s website. However, without seven of last year’s starters, Findley has spent the spring and summer months facing the challenge of immediately solidifying a new tactical system before the Flames second year in the ASUN. 

“We have great guys on our team — the character is tremendous, the work rate is great – the guys’ openness to new ideas,” Findley said. “In some ways, it’s hard when you come in when you’re new, and Jeff Alder did a great job here so it’s hard to follow him. But the guys were excited to do something a little different, so that made it easy.”

Without last year’s captain and top scorer Kevin Mendoza (who recently signed for Veracruz in Liga MX, the Mexican pro league), Findley has relied on a mix of freshmen and transfers to augment a core starting 11 for this upcoming season. The team had limited time for preseason training, however, and Findley emphasized the challenges that the short college soccer season imposes on a coach trying to establish his tactical system. 

“It’s actually super hard,” Findley said. “We’ve got a lot of new parts, so chemistry is important – getting pairings right (and deciding) who fits well with which player. We have a rotation of three players for one spot, where one guy might be bigger and another faster . . .  making sure that tactically we’re clear as a staff so the guys can execute.”

Entering a new season of ASUN play facing Lipscomb, champions of the ASUN for two years running, the Flames have their work cut out for them as the season moves toward their first ASUN game Sep. 21. In a recent ASUN coaches’ poll, Liberty placed fourth, with Lipscomb, FGCU and Jacksonville taking the first three places. 

The Flames won only two of their six ASUN games last season, falling 2-0 to Jacksonville in the quarterfinals of the ASUN playoffs, and Findley knows that record will have to improve for Liberty to have a chance at winning the conference championship this time around. But he remains confident that their status as underdogs will serve them well as the season progresses. 

“I think it’s perfect we’re chasing everybody else – if I were one of the players, then I’d be frustrated that we’re fourth (in the poll),” Findley said. “So I think it’s better than being first – we haven’t won it (the ASUN conference) ever, and it’s kind of where we should be. I like the fact that we’re in a position where we have to chase it, and our goal is obviously to win the conference championship. I think our schedule is good, I think we have a good enough team to complete – it’s just a matter of: can we be injury free and can the guys get better every single game and handle the travel?” 

But with Mendoza and last year’s other leading goal scorer Tresor Mbuyu both graduating, the Flames have lost their primary goal threats from last season, and creating a new scoring formula will require some of the new transfers, freshmen and returners to step up and share some of the goal-scoring burden this fall. 

“The good part of (the player turnover) is that I’ve kind of got to restart the team a little bit,” Findley said. “The bad part is that you lose some quality, but I think it’s a great opportunity for other guys to step in. In some ways losing a guy like (Mendoza) is very difficult, but it also puts the burden on the team more, so I think now all the guys have to step up a little bit, which should be good for them.”

Nevertheless, Findley is confident that as the season progresses, new players like Musa Morris and Seth Clark will find their feet and begin chipping in with goals. 

“We brought in some real quality (through recruitment), and I think the guys have capability of scoring goals, so I’m not worried about that,” Findley said. “I think the main thing is just getting better at what we do, and the goals will come.”

Liberty officially begins its season on Aug. 30 against Radford before its home opener Sept. 1 against Incarnate Word.