LYNCHBURG, Va. – Jacksonville State dropped a 3-0 decision to Liberty in its return to the ASUN Conference on Thursday night at Osborne Stadium.

JSU, who returned to the league for the first time since 2002, falls to 4-5-1 overall, while LU improved to 6-3-1. The Gamecocks will look to bounce back in conference play on Sunday, making the 87-mile drive over to Kennesaw, Georgia to face the Owls of Kennesaw State. Opening kick is set for 12 p.m. CST. The matinee contest will be streamed on YouTube Live. KSU blanked North Alabama in its ASUN opener, 3-0, on Thursday.

The two sides played to a scoreless 45 minutes in opening half before the Flames' pressure resulted in the first goal of the contest in the 58th minute. LU's Maddy Oliver drilled a shot to the top left corner of the goal to break the scoreless draw. The Flames extended the lead 10 minutes later with a netted ball from Chloe Marr. LU capped off the scoring with a goal off of a free kick from Lissi Gordon.

Jax State, the ASUN's leading shot producing team, was held to one shot in the affair, while LU finished with 12 total shots. In the defensive struggle of the opening 45 minutes, both clubs combined for four shots. JSU's shot came from freshman Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles off the bench. Her shot came in the final moments before the intermission as the ball ricocheted off the crossbar.

"I am proud the team's performance and I thought we defended very well," said head coach Neil Macdonald. "I think two of the three goals by them were very well taken strikes."

Even though the Flames had nine of their 12 shots in the second half, the time of possession was close to even with LU having a 53-47 percent advantage in possession.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Morgan Lerch posted three saves in the loss.

"We can take lots of positives from the game and I thought we did a good job of keeping the ball in possession," added Macdonald.

Links to the YouTube Live stream and live stats will be available on JSUGamecockSports.com.