Fourth Tie of the Season for Men’s Soccer

As mist covered the green grass at Osborne Stadium, the Liberty Flames men’s soccer team was set to break the stalemate that was its 1-1-1 record in divisional play so far this year.  

The Flames’ opponents, the Stetson Hatters, came into Saturday’s duel at 2-0-1 in the ASUN conference with a chip on their shoulders as well.

The matchup began earnestly enough, as both teams waged war deep into the first half.  Stetson struck first in the 33rd minute on a strike from forward Alessandro Gabbani. The Flames would have to settle until the second half before they opened their end of the scoring when Luke Eberle blasted his fifth goal of the season. 

Liberty and Stetson then furiously began trading the ball back and forth, with a stalemate in the score until late in the night, when in minute 84, Gabe Findley seemingly put both the ball and the game away with his first goal of the season, giving the Flames a 2-1 lead.  

However, unlike the wet surface that remained bothersome all night, the lead for the Flames evaporated quickly, as Stetson tied the game just two minutes later on a penalty kick by Gio Rodriguez.

The game would finish deadlocked, 2-2.  The result infuriated both teams, who fought to avoid another tie, a reoccurring theme so far in the short season.  

Despite the Flames outshooting the Hatters 16-8, the result stands as their fourth tie this year and second in ASUN conference play. The four ties are the second most in Flames program history, second only to 1982, when Liberty ended up tying six times overall.

Stetson also saw its record suffer as a result of the tie.  Their record stalled to 3-3-4 this year, going 2-1-1 in ASUN play.  

Both teams will be able to lick their wounds for a while, as each has off until Oct. 8 when they travel to play their opponents.  

Stetson will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to take on the Bellarmine Knights at 7 p.m. The Flames will head on to Jacksonville, Florida, to play the Dolphins of Jacksonville at 7 p.m. You can find that game, along with all other Liberty men’s and women’s soccer games this year, on ESPN+.  

Palermo is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on Twitter