VMI women's soccer falls to Liberty, 2-1

Sarah Strand broke a scoreless tie with a goal in the 76th minute, but the Liberty Flames scored twice in the final six-and-a-half minutes to claim a 2-1 victory over the VMI Keydets in Big South women’s soccer action Thursday night in Lynchburg, Va.

The Keydet defense held strong through the first 75 minutes, thanks in large part to a solid effort in goal by Amanda Berrios. Strand took advantage at 75:54, dribbling through the defense and beating Liberty keeper Karen Blocker lower right for a 1-0 VMI (3-10-2, 0-6-1 Big South) lead.

The Lady Flames (6-6-3, 3-3-1 Big South) came back, however, in the 84th minute. Off a cross from Kelly Henion, Lauren Stell headed the ball by Berrios to square the match, 1-1. A 90th minute VMI foul then set up the game-winner, as Madison Short found Henion for a shot into the left corner of the net, giving the Lady Flames a 2-1 lead. They were able to run out the clock and preserve that margin for the victory.

Liberty’s win is its first over VMI since 2007, as the Lady Flames outshot VMI 29-5 in the match. Berrios’ 11 saves kept the Keydets in the match, as she posted her fourth double-digit save performance of the season. Karen Blocker made three saves for Liberty.

The Lady Flames had the first two shots of the game, including testing Berrios for the first time at 6:11. The VMI keeper turned aside Megan Warner, and the Keydets responded with an Allie Segura shot on goal two minutes later. Berrios then made another save in the 17th minute, and in the interim, VMI was whistled for a trio of offside violations to end potential threats.

The next serious threat came in the 30th minute, when Liberty’s Henion had a shot on goal, but a Keydet defender was able to knock the ball away for the team save, keeping the match scoreless. Simone Jimenez had the next VMI shot, a wide try at 38:04, before Berrios turned aside a pair of Lady Flame tries in the final minutes of the half, sending the match to halftime scoreless.

The first half saw Liberty hold a 13-2 edge in shots, as well as a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. Berrios was credited with four saves in the opening 45 minutes.

The Keydets opened the second half with the first offensive chance, as Liz Affronti’s corner kick was turned into a shot by Strand, but Blocker made the save. Neither team had another shot until the 56th minute, when Berrios notched another save, and then did so again two minutes later as the match remained scoreless.

Liberty then turned up its offensive attack, as beginning in the 62nd minute, they had the game’s next nine shots over an 11-minute span. Berrios stopped one in the 66th minute, and a Casey Norris try hit the post in the 70th minute. All the other attempts were off target, and the match remained scoreless.

Liz Affronti counterattacked with a Keydet shot on goal that was stopped by Blocker. The Lady Flames responded by testing Berrios again, but the Keydet keeper was up to the task to keep the home team off the scoreboard. That set up the VMI response, which was Strand’s ninth goal of the year, extending her career high and giving the Keydets a 1-0 advantage with just over 14 minutes to play.

Liberty, however, responded less than eight minutes later. Berrios had yet another save at 77:04, as she did in the 82nd minute, but the VMI netminder could not stop Stell’s header at 83:31, tying the match at 1. The score was Stell’s second of the year, and set the stage for Henion’s goal in the final minute, the game-winning tally.

In addition to its edge in shots, Liberty held a slim edge in corner kicks, 4-3, and the match saw just 14 total fouls called, seven per side.