For the love of soccer

tered by the inability to get the ball in the net once they got itclose to the goal The Flames lost last season's second leading scorer BillGehman, goalieAndy Miller and freshman John Jones, considered to be their biggest offensive threat

The hopes of LBC's offense were pinned almost solely on returning leading scorer Alan Springs In the course of the season Danny DeVillbis developed into the top scorer Paul Annan, a goalie who escaped from Ghana, anchored a team that featured a strong defense, especially up the middle,but a frustrated offense.Time and again the ball would be kicked across the front of the goal, but the Flames simply could not convert.The lack ofan offensive threat saw the Flames drop five games by a single goal and they got shut out seven times.

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With the very first game, the Flames saw several firsts for their program A TO win over Virginia Commonwealth University provided them with their first victory not only over VCU, butover a DivisionI school aswell

Coming off their biggest win ever the Flames began their roller coaster season. They dropped a TO decision toHigh Point College that featured a strong defense, but no offense

After suffering through three defeats, two ofthem by a goal and none of which they should have lost, the Flames came up against their third Division Iteam — the University ofRichmond LBC recordedits second winagainst Division 1 foes, 3-1

A mini-spurt followed Richmond as the

Flames staved offdefeat infourout offive games, winning two and recording two ties. The lone defeat came against Longwood College when Longwood stunned LBC by scoring the equivalent of a first round knockout — a goal inonly 24seconds The quick score demoralized the Flames and they never regained any momentum, finally being shut out 3-0.

In a very satisfying win over Radford University, theFlames notonly rained on the Radford homecoming festivities, but they endured a tremendous literal rainstorm aswell. Alan Springs scored the first two goals while Dean Smith booted in the game winner.

The Flames lastdefeat was,inactuality, an encouraging note that setthem upfor a

Run Atthenational Playoffs

The losscame againstMalone Collegeof Ohio Malone was ranked second in the Mideast in the NAIA and was the third toughest team LBC played allyear LBC held Malone scoreless the entire first half Malone kicked its only goal with 10minutes remaining.

LBC recorded threestraightties, thelast one against itsfourth Division I foe — Virginia Military Institute.

In thetie against theUniversity ofDistrict Columbia, ateam LBChad neverbeaten, the Flames were down 2-1 and time was running out. With one second left Alan Springs pulled offsoccer's most spectacularkick — theoverhead bicycleshot — to score thetying goal.

SoccerSquad:

Following the VMI game, the Flames were once again visited by UDC tobegin theNAIA playoffs. This time Steve Gooch and Danny Devillbis each scored inthefirsthalf. Although it was physicallya very rough game, the defense, especially goalie Paul Annan combined tobring offthe firstwin ever against UDC. Annan recorded 15 saves while literally everyone got a chance toplay in an attempt to wear down theopponent's desperate attempts for a tie

On November 10,Liberty took onSpring Garden ofPhiladelphia attheGE fieldfortherighttoattend the NAIA national playoffs.

Again, the defense andgoalie Paul Annan stood off attack after attack as the game ended ina scoreless tie However, since thegame had to decide a winner, theteams underwent first one tenminute overtime period, then another Still no score The teams then played through two tenminute sudden death periods Still0-0 By now the field wasbecoming sodark that the figures at the opposite end ofthefield were only shadows.

Finally a kick-off was used to decide the winner Each team would get five attempts,alternatingat one-on-one kicks Each player could dribble theball as close tothegoal as possible and shoot within five seconds Thefirst four players for LBC could not score,although Steve Gooch hit the goal post Spring Garden, however, made two and was declared the winner,even though the final scorewas officially listed as a tie. It was the closest the Flames had ever come to reaching the national playoffs

Danny DeVillbis was named tothe Virginia Small College All-Star team to cap offthe up-and-down season.

One other positive note was the numerous salvationdecisions made on opposing teams The soccer team is wellknown for its evangelistic thrust led by Coach Bell Through its effective witnessing and testimony, the soccer team always hada successfulseason,nomatter what the win-lossrecord says.

Virginia Commonwealt h University

High Point College

Kings College

Eastern Mennonite College

Campbell University

Roanok e College

Piedmont Bible College

Guilford College

Averett College

University of Richmon d

Longwoo d College

Radford University

Washington Bible College

Philadelphia Bible College

Mt Vernon College

Malon e College

Christopher Newpor t College

University of District of Columbi a

Virginia Military Institute UDC

Somebod y had to g o to Kansas City to compete in the 1983 NAIA nationals;