Liberty’s fall sports are officially underway all over campus, and we will provide weekly updates on all of the teams throughout the semester.
CROSS COUNTRY
Liberty seniors Adelyn Fairley and Nicholas Kiprotich swept the individual titles during last Friday’s season opening Liberty Challenge at the Liberty Cross Country Course. Freshman Allie Zealand finished second in the women’s race. In total, the lady Flames grabbed seven of the top nine spots in the unscored competition against Lynchburg, the No. 5 ranked squad in NCAA Division III.
On the men’s side, Kiprotich, Tristian Merchant, Kyle Harkabus, and Nathan Moore made it a 1-2-3-4 Flames showing against Lynchburg, also ranked No. 5 in the D3 ranks on the men’s side.
Liberty will return to action on Sept. 20 in the Adidas XC Challenge in Cary, North Carolina.
FIELD HOCKEY (2-0, 0-0 Big East)
In her first game in a Liberty uniform, Ella Murphy scored the game winner in double overtime, lifting No. 11 Liberty to a 2-1 win over Indiana at Kent State’s Murphy Mellis Field to open the season. On Sunday, Martu Cian scored three goals in a 4-1 road win at Kent State as the Lady Flames improved to 2-0 to begin the season for the sixth straight year.
Liberty will face No. 3 Virginia in its home opener on Sunday at 1 p.m.
WOMEN’S SOCCER (6-0, 0-0 CUSA)
Liberty picked up a 2-1 victory over Delaware at Osborne Stadium on Friday night. Gabby Miranda scored in the opening 10 minutes while Avenley Monteith headed the game winner off a corner set piece in the final ten minutes to get past the Blue Hens.
The women then improved to 6-0 on the season with a 3-0 victory over Longwood on Senior Day on Sunday. Halle Engle, Haley Noblit, and Isabella Wedemeyer scored in the contest.
The Lady Flames are back in action Thursday evening in Blacksburg, Virginia against Virginia Tech at 7:30. The road trip continues on Sunday at 1 p.m. at West Virginia. This begins a stretch of five straight road contests.
MEN’S SOCCER (1-1-1, 0-0 OVC)
On Sunday afternoon at Osborne Stadium, the Georgia State Panthers broke a 1-1 tie with a goal during the 73rd minute to edge the Flames, 2-1. After a scoreless first half, Liberty struck for the game’s first goal when Gora Gora pushed the ball int o the back of the net. The visitors were able to strike for two goals to win the game in the second half.
The Flames are back in action on Friday, playing at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina at 7 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL (1-1, 0-0 CUSA)
The Liberty volleyball team opened the season in Puerto Rico. Liberty fell to Iowa in three sets, dropping the first two sets by identical margins of 25-23. The Flames picked up a win on Saturday, taking the final two sets to pull away for a 3-1 victory over Akron to conclude the first week of play.
The Lady Flames are back in action this weekend in the Kristen Dickmann Invitational in Annapolis, Maryland. Liberty takes on Navy Thursday night at 7, Cornell on Friday at 3 p.m., and UC San Diego on Saturday at 3 p.m. A busy week continues on Wednesday at NC State at 4 p.m.
