With Liberty track & field athletes concluding their season at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend, the 2020-21 athletic season has officially come to an end for the Liberty Flames. It brings to an end the greatest individual athletic season in school history and helped bring a smile to the faces of Liberty fans everywhere.
The past year has been challenging for everyone with the COVID pandemic affecting the world. There’s not a person that wasn’t affected in some way. It changed the way we do life and that included sports.
For many, athletic competition acts as a way to escape from the daily struggles of life, but we all had that taken away in March 2020. It affected the Flames immediately, as well, as the NCAA Tournament was taken away from arguably the great team in Liberty men’s basketball history. It left the final chapter of the storied careers of Caleb Homesley, Scottie James, Myo Baxter-Bell, and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz unwritten.
As the months passed and summer came and went, the 2020 football season was in serious jeopardy and it looked as if it might not be completed.
Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw and head football coach Hugh Freeze remained steadfast in their commitment to seeing the season played. After having to shuffle the schedule with games being canceled and others scheduled, the Flames were able to have a 2020 football season.
And what a season it was. Liberty had its best year in program history, finishing 10-1 and ranked No. 17 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, the highest ranking in school history as an FBS program. The season saw a number of firsts, including the program’s first ever national ranking, first ever win over an ACC program, something that happened twice as the Flames defeated Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Liberty also picked up the program’s first ever win over a ranked opponent by defeating former Big South rival Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl.
Quarterback Malik Willis exploded onto the national stage during his first season as Liberty’s starter. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the country and received several awards signifying his success. As preparation for the upcoming 2021 season has begun, Willis has been lauded as one of the top prospects for the 2022 NFL Draft with the potential to not only be a first round pick but perhaps finding his name called within the first handful of picks of next year’s draft.
That was just the tip of the iceberg of the championships and success on a national level the Liberty Flames would see during the year.
Ritchie McKay and the men’s basketball team, coming off the disappointment of missing out on the 2020 Big Dance and having to replace four key seniors, further proved its dominance in the ASUN as one of the top mid-major programs in the country. The season began with wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina and saw the Flames win 12 straight down the stretch towards an unprecedented third straight ASUN regular season and tournament championship as the Flames advanced to the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.
That success carried over into the spring, a super spring where the Flames saw 19 of the school’s 20 NCAA Division I sports competing, and a super spring it was for the Flames.
Liberty won conference championships in women’s cross country, swimming & diving, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s indoor track & field, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field, golf, and softball during the spring. The Flames also finished second in five sports – women’s basketball, baseball, men’s cross country, women’s indoor track & field, and lacrosse.
Nearly every sport on campus had one of its best seasons in program history. The women’s tennis team finished the regular season with an undefeated record in conference play. Field hockey finished the season ranked in the top 10 and saw its ranking as high as No. 4 during the season.
The women’s soccer team experienced a storybook run through the ASUN Tournament, upsetting two No. 1 seeds in Lipscomb and North Florida on its way to capturing the program’s first ever ASUN Championship with a 1-0 overtime thriller over host Kennesaw State. The Lady Flames advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. The men’s soccer team experienced success with wins over top 25 teams North Carolina and Coastal Carolina.
Liberty’s softball team had their fair share of thrilling victories with a number of walk-off wins during the season. One came on April 28 at Liberty Softball Stadium when Caroline Hudson blasted home runs on consecutive plate appearances to lift the Lady Flames over No. 18 Virginia Tech in nine innings. The win helped see the program achieve its first ever national top 25 ranking.
Dot Richardson’s team took their success into the postseason where Liberty advanced to the regional final in Knoxville after eliminated the host Tennessee. The Lady Flames would lose to eventual Women’s College World Series participant James Madison.
After winning the ASUN championship in dominating fashion, the golf team advanced to the NCAA National Championship for the third time in school history as the Flames finished fourth in the Tallahassee Regional. Liberty would finish in 21st place at the National Championship. The Flames were consistently ranked inside the top 25 Golfstat national rankings throughout the season, reaching a program best No. 13 ranking on April 14. Kieran Vincent was ranked as high as No. 6 in the Golfstat individual national rankings, the highest individual ranking in program history.
Scott Jackson led the Flames’ baseball team to won of its best seasons in school history. Liberty received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament where the Flames were the No. 3 seed in the Knoxville Regional. Liberty would defeat ACC Champion Duke in two games by a combined score of 26-10 to eliminate the Blue Devils before the Flames lost to No. 3 Tennessee, 3-1, in the regional final.
It was the best season in Liberty Athletic history and it came during the most challenging times this country has ever seen. Thank you, Liberty Flames, for letting us tag along for the ride.
