Liberty Arsenal advances 4-2 past River City in penalty shootout
It was a wild UPSL D1 Mid-Atlantic semifinal in Irmo
The visiting Liberty Arsenal International Soccer Club advanced to the UPSL Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Final via a 4-2 penalty shootout Sunday afternoon in Irmo, South Carolina. The match ended tied 1-1 after 90 minute and then knotted 2-2 after 120 minutes before the teams took to the spot to decide who’d move on in the fall UPSL playoffs.
Liberty Arsenal International grabbed the early advantage in the 12th minute as forward Kareem P. Reynald collected a pass, dribbled around the onrushing River keeper, and then slotted the ball into the open net for the 1-0 lead. The visitors took this lead into the break and River City really dialed up the pressure in the second half looking for the equalizer.
River City thought they had their breakthrough moment a couple of times only to have the offside flag or the referee’s whistle keep the score line in favor of the visitors. As the pressure mounted, the Liberty Arsenal defense would bend but not break as River pumped ball after ball into the Liberty penalty box. River’s Evan Williams deep into second-half stoppage time provided the late, late drama to the match as he collected a loose ball off a deflected shot and buried the ball to grab the game-tying goal.
The wild celebrations carried over into the short break and just seconds into the extra-time period Williams scored again looping the ball up and over the flat-footed and now shell-shocked Liberty defense in the 91st minute. The match had a frantic pace in the extra-time period and Liberty finally settled their nerves and began to work their way back into the game.
It was then in the 101st minute that Liberty’s Robenson Louis again turned the momentum of the match looping a ball over the River keeper to level things at 2-2. The teams played more conservatively during the second extra time and the match went to penalties to decide who would play in the upcoming final.
Liberty shot first and rattled their first shot off the crossbar while River converted their kick for the early 1-0 advantage. The Liberty kickers converted their next two attempts while the Liberty keeper, their PK specialist who was actually a defender, saved the next two River kicks to make it 2-1 Liberty after 3 kicks. Both teams converted their fourth kicks and then Liberty Arsenal claimed the PK shootout 4-2 with their 5th kick sending the visitors to the UPSL D1 Mid-Atlantic Championship.
Liberty will play the No. 1 seed Tar Devils SC in the final as they won their semifinal 4-0 over ILM FC.
River City now enters the offseason after a historic fall 2025 season where the team posted the most points in club history, highest finish in UPSL history, most goals scored in club history, and their first UPSL playoff appearance.
