Lady Flames Soccer shines vs. UNCG, falls to Kansas on Senior Night 

The Liberty University Women’s Soccer team faced the University of North Carolina Greensboro Sept. 11, claiming a 4-0 shutout before a matchup against the University of Kansas Sept. 14 in Osborne Stadium, which resulted in a loss 3-2 for Liberty.  

After the Lady Flames’ match against No. 9 Penn State resulted in a 3-0 loss, Liberty looked to turn things around on home soil. Senior forward Ivy Garner led the charge for the Lady Flames with a hat trick to put the game out of reach for the Lady Spartans. 

Garner tied for second place in program history with 24 goals following the three-goal effort. In the 20th minute, Garner took advantage of a corner from junior defender Carly Keene to open the scoring.  

Shortly before halftime, freshman defender Presley Kaiser rushed forward from the back line to score her first goal of the season, bringing the score to 2-0. Early in the second half, the Lady Flames put two more goals under their belt. In the 56th minute, Garner scored after freshman midfielder Lauren Flax set her up for the assist.  

Only 44 seconds later, Garner scored again to give her the third goal of the game as well as her first-ever hat trick. Garner credited her accomplishment to her teammate’s assists. 

“I can’t really take much of the credit for myself. … Although I was the one who finished those goals, they played me beautiful balls in all three places, and I just have to give them all the credit for that,” Garner said. 

With two stops to maintain the Lady Spartans’ attack, redshirt junior goalie Grace Workman gave Liberty its fourth shutout of the season to secure the win.  

“Feels really good to get a win on our home field, a pretty dominant win at that, and we got to play a lot of players, so that was a bonus,” Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer said. 

After the Lady Flames defeated UNCG, they set their focus on No. 21 Kansas. Before the game, the Lady Flames held their senior night with a ceremony honoring Garner, defenders Elise Graf and Kayla McGee, and midfielder Megan Hagan for their contributions to the team.  

The Lady Jayhawks struck first during the 10th minute when redshirt junior forward Saige Wimes found junior defender Olivia Page, who put it in the back of the net.  

Later in the half, Liberty fired back with a goal of its own when Garner found junior midfielder Gabby Miranda to tie the game at one apiece. 

The Lady Jayhawks, however, remained in control when freshman midfielder Mary Sola scored off a feed from junior forward Jocelyn Herrema to put the Lady Jayhawks up 2-1 going into halftime. 

To kick off the second half, sophomore midfielder Jillian Gregorski put one in the net to extend the Lady Jayhawks’ lead again with a score of 3-1. 

Liberty did not go down without a fight. In the 83rd minute, Garner made a pass to redshirt junior forward Halle Engle to reignite the Lady Flames and bring them back within one goal.  

Despite this effort, the Lady Flames were unable to capitalize on any more opportunities, letting Kansas walk away with a 3-2 win.  

Kansas had a 17-9 edge in shots and an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks, while Workman had six saves to keep the Lady Flames in the game.  

The Lady Flames fell to 5-3-2 overall, and 2-3-1 at home. Liberty looks to bounce back in a matchup against Missouri State University Sept. 19 in Osborne Stadium at 3:30 p.m.   

Shepard is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.