Liberty to Face Houston Christian in OVC Semifinal Wednesday

LYNCHBURG, VA. – The No. 3 seed Liberty Flames will face the No. 2 seed Houston Christian Huskies in the second semifinal match of the Ohio Valley Men's Soccer Championship on Wednesday at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Mo. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. The winner of the contest will advance to the OVC Championship game on Saturday afternoon.

The contest will be the third meeting between the Flames and Huskies this season. Liberty (9-4-6, 4-2-4 OVC) and HCU (10-5-2, 5-3-2 OVC) played to a 0-0 draw in their most recent meeting in Houston on Oct. 30, while the Huskies defeated the Flames 1-0 in Lynchburg on Oct. 5. HCU and Liberty have never met at the OVC Championship.

Liberty blanked No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois 1-0 in the OVC Quarterfinals on Sunday at Hunter Stadium. Sam Farner scored the game's only goal during the 19^th minute as the Flames' defense limited the Panthers to 10 shots, one on goal, during the contest, to advance to the semifinal.

Liberty News & Notes

Liberty finished the OVC regular season with its best record in OVC play in program history with a 4-2-4 mark and 16 points. The record eclipses the Flames' previous top conference record of 4-4-2 and 14 points in 2023.
Liberty's 1-0 victory over Eastern Illinois on Sunday was its first win at the OVC Tournament. The Flames had previously failed to advance in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks 3-1 against No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois in 2023 and fell to No. 4 Incarnate Word 2-0 in 2024.
Sam Farner scored his fifth goal of the season in Liberty's win on Sunday. The senior has posted career highs in goals and points with 14 this season. He entered the OVC Championship tied for seventh in the conference in assists with four.
Defender Ty Conley assisted on Farner's goal to record his first assist and point of the season.
Midfielder Elijah John started Liberty's goal with a corner kick and recorded his fifth assist of this season on Sunday.
Liberty recorded its sixth shutout of the season on Sunday.
Tyler Beck has played every minute in goal this season for the Flames. The sophomore, in his first season as the Liberty goalkeeper, has posted a 1.21 goals-against average and has a 0.709 save percentage over 1,710 minutes. Beck is currently fifth nationally in goalkeeper minutes played.
The Flames outscored their opponents, 36-22, during the regular season. Liberty is currently 19th nationally in goals scored and finished second in the OVC during the regular season.
Liberty is currently 14^th in the nation by averaging 6.89 shots on goal per game. The Flames finished the regular season first in the OVC in shots on goal per game.
11 Flames have scored at least one goal this season and six have scored three or more goals. Farner, Zach Lifferth (8) and Leo Conneh (6) have scored five or more goals.
Zach Lifferth entered the OVC Championship tied for the OVC lead and leads the Flames with eight goals. In addition, the senior leads Liberty and was tied for third in the OVC with 18 points (8 goals, 2 assists) at the end of the regular season.
Leo Conneh has scored a career-high six goals and tallied a career-high 14 points (6 goals, 2 assists) for the Flames this season. Conneh entered the OVC Championship tied for fifth in the OVC in goals scored and tied for ninth in points.
Defender Perry Blay leads the Flames and ended the regular season tied second in the OVC with seven assists.
Senior defender and captain Casey McCarthy leads Liberty's field players in minutes played, having logged over 1,690 minutes. Only Flames goalkeeper Tyler Beck has played more minutes than McCarthy.
McCarthy, Beck, Conneh and midfielder Spencer Moler are the only Flames to have started all 19 games this season.
Head coach Kelly Findley is in his seventh season at Liberty. He has announced his retirement from coaching at the end of the 2025 season. Findley has posted a 47-48-20 record at Liberty and is 168-146-48 during his 20-year head coaching career.

Schedule

Liberty to Face Houston Christian in OVC Semifinal Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Beck

Perry Blay

Ty Conley

Leo Conneh

Sam Farner

Elijah John

Zach Lifferth

Casey McCarthy

Spencer Moler