When Liberty’s boys soccer team returns to the pitch this season, it will be in competition with all teams from the East Penn Conference, not just Northampton County as was the situation last year with COVID-19 restrictions.

“Although we are seeing a spike in cases, I will trust our BASD leadership to navigate wisely and appropriately,” said Hurricane head coach Ian Larimer. “They’ve done a fantastic job so far steering the ship.”

Liberty had preseason scrimmages scheduled with Quakertown and Salisbury, and will travel to Nazareth for its season opener on Sept. 8.

Top returners are expected to be sophomore Tanner Horvath (Midfield), senior Benjamin Belony (Midfield), sophomore Josh Lee (Forward), and junior Brady Vaclavik (Defense).

Newcomers to watch are sophomores Liam Hosfeld (Forward) and Adrian Solano (Defense).

“We held voluntary training as often as possible [this summer],” said Coach Larimer. “We focused heavily on numerical overloads in various rondos. As the summer progressed, we began to focus on our build-out routines and utilizing the half spaces. Working on attacking from our own defensive third has been essential.”

Liberty’s first home match is scheduled for Sept. 10 when they will host Dieruff.