LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Radford men's soccer team fell to Liberty, 3-0, in the season opener for both teams on Thursday evening at Osborne Stadium.
"I was really proud with our effort tonight," said Radford head coach
Chris Barrett. "I thought we came out in the beginning of the match on the front foot and put them under a lot of pressure. We were in there in and created some chances and I thought we were equal if not better than them. We made a mistake right before halftime to give up the penalty, which obviously is a tough time to give up a goal. In the second half, we came out trying to attack them. But full credit to Liberty — they are really good team and experienced team and they're going to win a lot of games this year. But I couldn't be more proud of this young group. It's the first time we've had a full compliment of players, and I know we have a lot of potential."
Play remained fairly even in the early going, as Radford (0-1) generated several high-quality chances with three shots in the first 15 minutes. However, the Flames struck first in the 44
th minute when Liberty's Marko Mitrevski drew a foul inside the penalty area. Mitrevski converted the ensuing penalty kick, putting the home team ahead, 1-0.
Liberty (1-0) tilted possession in the second half, outshooting the Highlanders 8-2. The Flames got insurance goals from Luke Eberle in the 62
nd minute, along with Bryce Swinehart in the 77
th.
Radford did produce some great scoring chances early in the match. In the 4
th minute,
Octavio Ocampo got a clean look inside the box, but missed just wide to the right. For the evening, the Highlanders were limited to just one shot on goal, though they did outpace Liberty in corner kicks, 5-2.
UP NEXT
Radford will have a five-day break before resuming play at Mount St. Mary's on Aug. 30. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. from Emmitsburg, Md.
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