Box Score CONWAY – The No. 21-nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina men's soccer team suffered a 2-1 setback to Liberty on Saturday night at the CCU Soccer Complex in the regular-season finale.
It was a battle of two evenly matched teams, but the Flames (7-3-2) made a few more plays on the offensive end of the field while the Chants (9-4-2) were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.
Liberty opened the scoring in the 18th minute on a bang, bang play that had the Flames take a free kick from just outside the 18' box. The original shot was blocked but the ball bounced right to LU's Seth Clark who was able to knock in the ricochet before anyone could react. Marko Mitrevski was credited for the assist.
The score stood at 1-0 for another 18 minutes before Liberty struck again. Noah Holmes was able to beat CCU goalie
Tor Saunders to a high ball in front of the net and headed the ball just out of reach of Saunders for the second goal, which turned out to be the match-winner. Mitrevski again was credited with the assist.
Liberty took the 2-0 advantate into the locker room at halftime and played more of a defensive game in the second half, pulling all of their players except the goalie, back into their defensive end of the field. The tactic worked until the 59th minute when
Connor Pugh headed the ball into the net off a double-assist from
Marcelo Lage and
Ethan Hackenberg.
The Chants had several other chances to score, outshooting the Flames 9-7, but could not find the back of the net.
Liberty came into the match leading the nation in shutouts and the Flames' goalie Danny Cordero finished the match with four saves, while Saunders had two.
The Chanticleers will now wait to see who their first opponent will be in the 2021 NCAA National Championship as the selection show will be on Monday, April 19 at noon ET and can be seen on ncaa.com.
For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
