The No. 5 Liberty Flames got two second half goals to rally for a 2-1 victory over No. 4 High Point in the first game of the 2008 Big South Men's Soccer Championship Thursday at the Coastal Carolina Soccer Field on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.  The Flames will play the winner of No. 1 Winthrop/No. 8 VMI Friday afternoon at 4:00pm in the semifinals, it is their third straight semifinals appearance.

High Point struck first in the contest scoring in the sixth minute of play.  A play started by Karo Okiomah on the right sideline who connected on a pass to Chris Shrum who played the final ball to Matt Tuttle who was able to hit a bending shot to the far right post for his second goal of the year.  It was Okiomah's first assist on the year, while Shrum increased his Big South leading total to nine.  Much of the half played out very sluggish from that point out for both sides and the score heading into the half was 1-0 Panthers.

After some regrouping at halftime, the Flames came out a different team.  Liberty finally got on the board on a beautiful diving header from Justin Willoughby.  The ball was played across from the right sideline by Karol Chorak for his eighth helper on the year.  The goal came in the 56th minute of play.

High Point had an opportunity to score their second goal of the game when Tuttle served a ball Shrum in the box and his header was stopped but the carom found Hilaire Babou, but his shot was blocked and couldn't get a toe on the rebound on the empty net.

Liberty got the game-winning goal from the Big South leading goal scorer Joshua Boateng in the 78th minute of play.  A long throw-in from Chris Osborne found the head Boateng which was caught by HPU goalie Michael Chesler.  His momentum carried back into the goal and crossed the end line for the goal.

The Flames were led offensively by Boateng and Willoughby who each netted a goal apiece.  The Panthers were paced by Tuttle who scored the only goal for HPU on his only shot attempt of the game.

LU held a slight 8-6 edge in shots including a 6-4 mark in the second half.  High Point had a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.  Andrew Madero got the win in goal, only allowing the one early goal.  Chesler suffered the loss making two saves while giving up two goals. 

Liberty improves to 10-5-2 on the year, while High Point ends its season at 9-8-3.  Liberty will be making its 11th appearance in the Big South Tournament semifinals.

QUOTES

High Point Head Coach Dustin Fonder
"We are disappointed in the outcome this afternoon, but hats off to Liberty, they are a quality team.  Both teams are still wondering if that second goal really went in, but we can't change that at this point.  We are looking forward to continuing the growth of the High Point program."

Liberty Head Coach Jeff Alder
"We want to give credit to High Point, we knew it was going to be a difficult contest, most likely a one goal game.  Luckily we were able to stay in the game and not fall far behind.  It was a typical Big South Tournament game and we applaud High Point and their staff.  At this point in the season, it is survive and advance."