Women’s Soccer Wins 2-1 Against Middle Tennessee

The Liberty University Women’s Soccer team defeated the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in a competitive match Sunday, Oct. 27. Led by a strong performance from redshirt sophomore forward Halle Engle, the Lady Flames defeated the Blue Raiders 2-1.

In the last matchup between the two programs, Liberty secured its first Conference USA win. Since then, the Flames have gone a combined 10-3-3 in conference play, and they have their sights set on a second straight Conference USA Championship. 

Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer, however, is still focused on taking things one game at a time. 

“It’s great that the girls have put themselves in that situation, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and use some of the experience from last year’s tournament about how to manage the emotion and focus to be able to get a good result,” Wedemeyer said. 

With a chance to make program history in the coming weeks, the Lady Flames are focused on the task at hand. 

Wedemeyer’s message seemed to resonate, as it did not take long for the Flames to get going. After a missed scoring attempt in the first two minutes of play, junior forward Ivy Garner bounced back later in the quarter, finding a wide-open Engle for the game’s first score and putting Liberty up 1-0. 

Photo by Noah Seidlitz | @noahsdslr

Statistically, the Flames have had success off of early goals from Engle. In games where Engle has struck first, the Lady Flames are undefeated with a record of 8-0. 

“I wasn’t aware of that stat,” Engle said postgame. “I think that it’s not just me, but whoever scores the first goal sets the tone of the game. (In practice) we talk about our first five moments and finishing a goal in the first five minutes.” 

Even with the early lead, Liberty continued its aggressive style of play. In the ensuing 10 minutes of play, the Flames attempted three shots, two of which were shots on goal, and three corner kicks.

However, a defensive breakdown in the 17th minute of play helped Middle Tennessee State tie the game at 1-1. Midfielder Manon Lebargy sneaked behind redshirt freshman goalkeeper Peyton Huber, netting the 10th goal of her junior season. 

Following the Blue Raider goal, both teams traded possessions and failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. After a combined three shot attempts in the final 25 minutes of the half, halftime commenced with the score tied at 1-1.

Despite another strong start in the second half, Liberty was unable to connect on its six shot attempts during the first 20 minutes of the final period. Both the Flames and Blue Raiders struggled to generate quality scoring opportunities and remained tied at 1-1. 

In the 82nd minute, Engle moved past three defenders and banked in the game-winning goal off the upper crossbar, giving Liberty a 2-1 advantage in the final minutes. 

“(The goal was) a shot that I had been working on for a long time,” Engle said. “I give a lot of credit to all of the people that set me up for that goal. I obviously didn’t do it by myself. We practiced it all week, finishing and shooting, and we are all super capable of doing it.” 

Now in desperation mode, Middle Tennessee State made a final push to tie the game. In the end, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Grace Workman and the Liberty defense prevailed, winning 2-1.

With the end of the regular season nearing, the Flames’ 13-1-4 overall record is the best in the conference. Despite the success, Wedemeyer and the Lady Flames are still taking it one game at a time.

Ahead of the team’s final regular-season matchup against Kennesaw State, Wedemeyer had this message for his team.

“We can’t look ahead of Kennesaw. … They’re not fighting for our spot, but they’re fighting for seeding,” Wedemeyer said. “We have got to finish strong and make sure that we pick up some momentum.”

Drew Garrett is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. 

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