MARIETTA, Ohio — As our celebration of Marietta College Men's Soccer nears the completion, today we honor the 2010-19 Defensive Player of the Decade,
Noah Laliberty (Scott Depot, W.Va./Winfield) '19.
Noah was recruited out of Scott Depot, West Virginia as part of Coach of the Decade
Joe Bergin's 2015 class. He made an immediate impact as a freshman in starting in all 19 games in 2015 helping the team reduce its goals allowed by 22% from the prior year. The Pioneers qualified that season for the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) playoffs falling in the quarterfinals to Heidelberg in double overtime.
Noah's sophomore year in 2016 was more of the same as the team reduced its goals against by another 33% allowing just 1.14 per game. In addition, Laliberty contributed four assists on the offensive end including the pass on
Andy Rolfes' (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) game winner against the third ranked team in the nation at the time, Ohio Northern. Once again the team qualified for the playoffs picking up a win in the quarterfinals before falling to John Carroll in the semifinal round.
In 2017 the team started out with five consecutive shutouts setting the record for most consecutive clean sheets. The team finished the year 11-6-3, the best record since 2002. Noah contributed one goal and two assists on the season as well as being part of the defense that set the record for most shutouts in a year with nine. Marietta once again advanced to the semifinals of the OAC tournament before falling in overtime to eventual champion Otterbein.
Noah's senior year in 2018 was marred by a knee injury against Capital in the middle of the OAC season. Despite the injury he played in three more games, starting two of them before shutting it down for good. For the season he added four more assists to bring his career total to 12 assists along with his one goal.
Laliberty was named All-OAC three times (2015-17) and was honored with All-Ohio honors after the 2017 record setting season. Friday will be the final announcement of the series with the Offensive Player of the Decade 2010-19.
