JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 5, 2026) – The fourth-seeded ETSU men's soccer team saw its season end in the SoCon Quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at Summers-Taylor Stadium. The Bucs and Flames were deadlocked at 2-2 after two overtime periods, forcing penalty kicks to decide the winner. Liberty punched its ticket to the SoCon semifinals thanks to a 3-1 win in the best-of-five penalty kicks.
Marko Odorcic gave the Buccaneers an early 1-0 lead, netting his first goal in an ETSU uniform at the 10-minute mark. Odorcic opened the scoring thanks to passes from
Elliot Edwards and Jamie Carrillo.
ETSU maintained that 1-0 lead until a yellow card in the box gave the Flames a penalty shot. Liberty's top goal scorer Kpardeh Samson pulled his squad back even as he got the ball past ETSU keeper Noé Delmotte on that attempt.
As the match moved into the second half, Samson struck again after receiving a pass from Manuel Vitorino and found the back of the net to give the Flames their first lead of the match in the 54
th minute, 2-1.
The Flames' lead lasted just three minutes, as Odorcic capitalized on a deflected pass and fired home the equalizer in the 57th minute.
Liberty turned up the pressure offensively in the second half and the two overtime periods. Over those 65 minutes, the Flames outshot the Bucs 23-6. Liberty's advantage was amplified after an ETSU player received a second yellow card in the 84th minute, forcing the Buccaneers to play the remainder of the match with 10 men.
Despite playing a man down for the final 26 minutes of regulation and both overtime periods, ETSU's defense held firm to force penalty kicks. Liberty converted three of its four penalty attempts, while
Joe Gonzalez accounted for ETSU's lone conversion in four attempts.
Liberty will now advance to the SoCon Men's Soccer Semifinals on Sunday when it takes on top-seeded Furman at 7 p.m. in Greenville, South Carolina.
For more information on Buccaneer men's soccer, visit
ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's soccer tab.
