JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 10, 2026) - The chase for history is on for Gavin Dick.
The freshman from Scotland intensified his siege on ETSU's record books with a brace in a 2-0 win over Liberty in heavy rain on Saturday night. He scored in each half to lift the Buccaneers (6-6-2, 2-0-1) into a tie with first place with Wofford atop the SoCon halfway through the conference schedule and inch ever closer to the ETSU freshman scoring record.
The Flames (4-5-2, 2-2-0) had initiative early and had what they felt was a goal for Pablo Matavele called offside in the 21st minute as the ball glanced off Matavele's foot into the back post off a terrific cross from Ronnie Gorman. Video review upheld the call on the field.
Less than 60 seconds later, Frank Manrod fired a long searching ball up the left wing and connected with Jaime Carrillo. The veteran winger slid a pass through three Liberty defenders to Dick, who made one extra move before firing a shot low to the back post with his left foot and slipping the ball under the outstretch arm of goalkeeper Dan Rose for his fourth goal this season.
The game became very chippy late in the first half as ETSU's defense thwarted the Flames time and again and boiled over in the wake of captain Roope Salo skimming a ball off the crossbar from a clean look at goal. Carrillo was issued a yellow card in the 44th after repeated tangles with Oscar Vallejo, but Vallejo was sent off in the 58th when Carrillo was breaking in toward goal and Vallejo tripped him on a desperate sliding tackle.
Dick returned to the game as a substitute for Dakota King in the 59th and needed 68 seconds to throw the knockout punch. A long ball by Hugo Martinez down the left side synced up with pressure by Carrillo put a defender in a bad position and forced an errant pass that Dick pounced on and raced through three defenders and nearly stepped on the ball as he rolled it low and smooth into the back post for his first collegiate brace to put the game out of reach.
The Flames outshot the Bucs 15-3 and held a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Flames were called offside seven times in the first half as the Bucs' back line executed the offside trap against the aggressive Liberty forwards. Noé Delmotte made seven saves, tying a career high for the second time in three matches and setting a personal mark for his most saves in a shutout. With five goals and five assists this season, Dick has 15 total points, one shy of Hauk Andreas Fossen's freshman record. He is three goals shy of Fossen's freshman goals mark (8) in 2019 and one assist away from Abdi Bahur's freshman assists mark (6) in 2024.
The win keeps ETSU apace of Wofford atop the SoCon with seven points through three matches after the Terriers defeated Mercer on Friday. A trip to Rock Hill to face Winthrop in the final nonconference game of 2026 awaits ETSU on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
