\u00a0LYNCHBURG, Va. \u2013 The Liberty Flames men’s soccer team will open its 2026 home schedule when it hosts the FGCU Eagles at Osborne Stadium on Friday evening. \u00a0Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The Flames are coming off a 1-1 road trip to San Diego, Calif., last week to open the regular season. Liberty downed San Diego State 2-1 in its opening game of the season, before falling to then No. 18 San Diego 3-1.
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\nLiberty News & Notes
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\n\tLiberty and FGCU have previously met on the pitch four times as members of the ASUN Conference. The Eagles hold a 3-1 edge. The last meeting between the two teams came in 2022.
\n\tForward Samson Kpardeh<\/a> was selected as the Southern Conference (SoCon) Player of the Week for the season’s opening week.
\n\tKpardeh had two goals during the Flames’ trip to San Diego. The sophomore transfer scored a goal in each of Liberty’s matches. He also scored the first goal of the 2026 season in the Flames’ 2-1 win at San Diego State.
\n\tMidfielder Pablo Matavele<\/a> scored Liberty’s other goal in its victory at San Diego State.
\n\tMidfielder Javan Ochieng<\/a> leads the Flames with two assists. He assisted on a goal in each game last week. Three other Liberty players had an assist as defenders Ronnie Gorman<\/a>, Finn van den Berg<\/a> and Hugo Kopke<\/a> each had one.
\n\tDan Rose<\/a>, who transferred from Marshall, played all 180 minutes in goal for Liberty last week. The sophomore has posted a 2.00 goals-against average and a .636 save percentage in the early going.
\n\tThe Flames have had nine transfers join their ranks for 2026. Highlighting Liberty’s transfers are Kpardeh, Ochieng and 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. Kpardeh was voted to the Big South All-Conference first team and All-Region team last season.
\n\tThe Flames have players from 13 different countries and six different continents.
\n\tScott Wells<\/a> 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.
\n\tLiberty 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.
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