Liberty Men’s Soccer Opens Season in San Diego

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty Flames men's soccer team, under new head coach Scott Wells, will start the 2026 season this weekend with two matches in San Diego, Calif.

The Flames will open their season against the San Diego State Aztecs at the SDSU Sports Deck tomorrow evening. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. EST time/7 p.m. PST.

On Sunday, Liberty will face the No. 18 San Diego Toreros at Toreros Stadium. Match time is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST.

The Flames will be meeting each team for the first time in their program's history.

Liberty News & Notes

Scott Wells is in his first season at Liberty. Wells, who was hired in January, spent two seasons as the head coach at Gardner-Webb before coming to Liberty.
Liberty will participate in the Southern Conference (SoCon) this season after three years as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The Flames were picked to finish third in the SoCon Preseason Poll. Nationally ranked Furman (No. 3) and UNCG (No. 14) were selected ahead of Liberty in the poll.
The Flames will have a lot of new faces in 2026 as four of the 24 players on Liberty's roster are returners. Goalkeeper Tyler Beck and midfielders Spencer Moler, Dylan Swinehart and Jayden Ramos return from last season.
Beck played every minute (1,800) of all 20 Liberty games in 2025. He was selected to the OVC All-Newcomer team after posting a 1.20 goals-against average and having six shutouts.
The Flames have had nine transfers join their ranks for 2026. Highlighting Liberty's transfers are forward Samson Kpardeh, midfielder Javan Ochieng and goalkeeper Dan Rose. Kpardeh and Ochieng both played at Gardner-Webb under Wells last season, while Rose started seven games for Marshall in 2025, posting a 1.15 goals-against average.
Last year at Gardner-Webb, Kpardeh was voted to the Big South All-Conference first team. The forward led the Bulldogs in scoring with eight goals and two assists for 18 points.
The Flames have players from 13 different countries and six different continents.
Liberty will return to Lynchburg for its first home match of the season on Aug. 28. The Flames will host the FGCU Eagles at Osborne Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Schedule

Liberty Men’s Soccer Opens Season in San Diego

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Beck

Samson Kpardeh

Spencer Moler

Javan Ochieng

Jayden Ramos

Dan Rose

Dylan Swinehart

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