Lady Flames Soccer Drops Home Contest to Kennesaw State

With less than two weeks until the 2021 Spring ASUN Women’s Soccer Championship, the Liberty women’s soccer team lost to the Kennesaw State Owls 1-0 at Osborne Stadium, leaving Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer frustrated. 

“Obviously it was very disappointing to lose again on our home field,” Wedemeyer said. “We are just struggling right now, unfortunately.”

Coming into this ASUN North Divisional matchup, the Lady Flames were ranked third in the division, right behind the Owls.

During the first half of the game, the Lady Flames controlled possession, but they struggled to create many scoring opportunities. With the Owls also moving the ball slowly, neither side had a clear-cut chance until the 30th minute. 

After a misguided pass from the Lady Flames, Kennesaw State senior Erin Miller found herself one-on-one with reigning ASUN Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Melody Jayroe. Miller tried to slot the ball into the right corner past Jayroe, but Jayroe bolted out of her own box to come up with a critical save and keep the game scoreless.

Following that chance for the Owls, Kennesaw State registered two more shots in the half, outshooting Liberty 6-2 in the first half. 

Wedemeyer’s starting lineup currently includes four freshmen, and he said that his young team makes them more susceptible to losing steam at big turning points in game.

“I think that we are just so young and so inexperienced and in critical moments we aren’t making great decisions that will lead to scoring chances,” Wedemeyer said. “Being able to connect on one more pass, getting a better cross in, just those little plays and details of the game show the immaturity within our team.”

The Owls struggled to capitalize on Liberty’s errors in the first half, but rectified this issue in the second half as the pace of the game increased. 

“It became a track meet for us in the second half, which didn’t favor us because they were very athletic up front,” Wedemeyer said. “It was just counterattack after counterattack, and we didn’t find a way to stop it.”

In the 61st minute, Lady Flames senior defender Cora Duininck gave up a free kick on the edge of the 18-yard box, which put the Owls in an ideal scoring position. Kennesaw State senior Kendall Hart lined up for the free kick and lashed the ball past Jayroe into the top right corner, giving the Owls a one-goal lead.

Neither team managed much offense after the goal, with the game ending 1-0. The Owls are still ranked second in the ASUN North Division and the Lady Flames fell to 3-4-4 in overall competition, still holding the third position in the division behind the Owls.

After the Flames lost, they traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to play the Bellarmine Knights.

“Well I think the positive energy that was coming from our bench in our players was really good today and that will help when we play Bellarmine,” Wedemeyer said. “We just need to be able to regroup and get a few breaks in the game.”

However, the Flames drew 2-2 with the Knights March 28, continuing Liberty’s four-game winless run. 

Emmanuel Adamson is a Social Media Manager. Follow him on Twitter at @Eadamson12.