By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team's first and only Friday match of the regular season swung Liberty's way, as the Lady Flames powered a pair of second-half scores to seize a 2-0 victory at Osborne Stadium.
Goals in the 69th and 86th did the trick for the preseason No. 1 team in Conference USA, helping extend the Lady Flames' school-record 16-match unbeaten streak dating back to last year. With the win over the Golden Eagles (0-2-1), Liberty moves to 3-0-0 for the first time in program history.
Just after the midway point of the second stanza, the Lady Flames broke the scoreless draw on a Saydie Holland goal that found the back of the net amidst heavy traffic inside the box. Haleigh Arostegui started the go-ahead play with a feed to Claire Valentine a few yards to the right of the box. Valentine proceeded to loft a cross amongst a crowd situated near the net, and following a Golden Eagle deflection, Holland flipped one into the right corner of the net for the Ole Miss transfer's first net-finder of the season.
Liberty doubled up the margin with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, capitalizing on one of six corners taken in the tilt. Arostegui once again started the action after electing to roll one to Lysie Findley off the corner attempt. Findley immediately fed it back to Arostegui, which was promptly followed by a pass from the 5-foot-5 sophomore that connected with Holland inside the box. Holland wasted no time with a quick give to Katy Gregson that saw the Frisco, Texas native send one into the back of the cage for the freshman's first career goal.
Gregson's goal was part of a busy Lady Flame attack that featured a 17-2 shot advantage for the home side. Tech's pair of attempts were both on-goal behind first-half tries by Taylor Clark and Melina Hamm. Clark put one on-point in the 12th minute, while Hamm's bid on-frame occurred in the 23rd minute. Liberty's Ivy Garner and Allison Hansford led the match with three shots apiece.
Maggie Conrad's busy evening saw the 5-foot-7 junior register a career-high eight saves, including six in the first stanza. Ainsley Leja picked up the clean sheet with two stops in her back pocket.
With no further weekend action on tap for Tech, the Golden Eagles will resume their non-conference slate on Thursday, Aug. 31 back in Cookeville. The purple and gold will host in-state foe ETSU at 6 p.m. CT. Admission to Tech Soccer Field is free of charge.
Photo by Jim Dillon
