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CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina women's soccer team played its final home game of the regular season Friday night, but by knocking off first-place Liberty 1-0, the Chanticleers assured their five seniors one more contest at CCU Soccer Stadium.

One of those seniors, Kacey Kelley, provided the only goal in the 23rd minute and Coastal made it stand up defensively to clinch a home game in the first round of the Big South Tournament next weekend. The Chants improved to 9-7-2 overall and moved back into second place in the conference at 6-2-1.

The loss was the first Big South defeat for Liberty (11-4-1, 7-1-1), marking the third consecutive year that CCU has handed the league's leader its first conference loss. In 2012, Coastal shut out High Point and last season the Chanticleers ended Radford's long regular-season Big South win streak.

Coastal came out strong to start the match and controlled most of the possession for the first 20 minutes, keeping the ball in Liberty's defensive half. The attack paid off with Kelley's goal 11th goal of the season. Fellow senior Christina Stern sent the ball into the box on a long throw-in from the right side and a Liberty defender tried to clear it. However, it went right to Kelley in the middle and she ripped a shot from 10 yards into the top of the net for her 27th career marker.

Liberty began to mount more offense following the goal and nearly tied the game in the 35th minute. Jennifer Knoebel received a long pass near the right post, but her shot with Coastal goalkeeper Becca Austin out to challenge rolled just wide to the left.

The Flames controlled possession early in the second half, but the Chants nearly caught them in a counterattack to make it 2-0. Stern received a throughpass from Kelley and was alone on the right side of the box. However, Liberty goalkeeper Holly Van Noord came out and was able to block the attempt away.

Van Noord robbed Stern again 79th minute, leaping to tip a shot from the top of the box over the crossbar to keep it a one-goal game.

The ball was in Coastal's defensive half for much of the second 45 minutes and Liberty did record seven shots, but the Chanticleers were able to keep the Flames from getting any close-in opportunities and Austin made all three of her saves for the game.

Liberty pressed forward in the closing minutes and CCU continued to track the ball down and clear it out. A long shot in the 89th minute went harmlessly wide and a long ball was sent into the box in the final seconds, but the Chants headed it away to seal the victory.

The Flames finished the game with a 13-10 shot advantage, but Coastal doubled them up in attempts on goal, 6-3 and had a 3-2 edge in corner kicks. The clean sheet was the sixth of the season for CCU and fourth in their five conference home games.

Coastal improved to 15-1 in Big South games at home in the last three years and 8-1 in matches at CCU Soccer Stadium this season.

Prior to the game, Kelley, Stern and fellow seniors Shelby Evans, Rylie Johnson and Maddie Phillips were honored. The group was part of a team that won just two games their freshman year, but have totaled 29 victories over the final three years.

The Chants close out the regular season at Lowcountry rival Charleston Southern on Tuesday, Oct. 28, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. CCU could still clinch a share of the regular-season title with a win and a Liberty loss to Longwood in its final game. Either way, Coastal will play a Big South tourney game at home for the first time since 2006.