ATHLETICS EXCELLENCE YEAR IN REVIEW Before the athletic year was halted prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, five Liberty teams had captured conference championships. Men’s basketball (regular season and tournament), women’s basketball (tournament co-champion), men’s indoor track & field, and women’s indoor track & field each earned ASUN Conference championships. Meanwhile, women’s swimming & diving won back-to-back Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) crowns. Football also made history with its first-ever bowl game victory. The Flames topped Georgia Southern 23-16 to win the 2019 Cure Bowl.
FOOTBALL
The Flames became just the third team ever to win a bowl game during their first season of bowl eligibility after moving up from FCS to FBS. Liberty finished 8-5, recording its most wins in a season since 2014. The Flames’ impressive season also featured a victory over Bahamas Bowl champion Buffalo. All-American wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden was a fourth-round pick of the Washington Football Team in the 2020 NFL Draft.
VOLLEYBALL
FIELD HOCKEY
The Lady Flames finished a 10-8 season with a No. 19 national ranking. For the first time, two Liberty players (Jill Bolton and Ashley Dykema) earned All-America honors in the same season.
CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK & FIELD
The Flames swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Liberty Indoor Track & Field Complex. Immediately after the meet, Brant Tolsma announced his retirement after 34 years coaching at Liberty. He finished his career with the Flames with 116 conference titles and 77 conference coach of the year awards. In cross country, Liberty finished as the men’s and women’s ASUN runners-up for the second year in a row.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Liberty won a school-record 30 games, tying for the second most victories in Division I for the 2019-20 season. For the second consecutive season, the Flames shared the ASUN regular-season title and cut down the nets as tournament champions. Liberty topped Lipscomb in the ASUN Championship title game, the final contest played at the Vines Center.
Liberty went 21-12, capped off by the first two postseason victories in program history. The Lady Flames won a pair of National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) matches to reach the tournament’s quarterfinal round. Liberty was 11-5 in conference play, setting a program standard for ASUN victories in a season.
MEN’S SOCCER
Midfielder Ruben Garcia became the Flames’ first CoSIDA Academic All-American since 2011 with his selection to the second team. The senior was also the program’s first ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year selection.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Liberty’s 10-7-2 record featured its first-ever win over an ACC opponent (Pitt). The Lady Flames yielded zero goals in regulation during ASUN Conference play and were the only ASUN team to defeat conference champion Lipscomb.
87
