Healthy Riggs making a big impact for undefeated Liberty

Roman Riggs was forced into a spectator role last season.

An ACL tear during club soccer in November 2023 sidelined him for the entirety of his junior year.

Now, he’s healthy and leading an undefeated Iowa City Liberty boys’ soccer team (3-0) with five goals.

“The knee is feeling 100 percent and all systems are a go,” Riggs said.

“He's able to take charge, and it's wonderful to have someone like that on our roster,” Liberty Coach Matt Harding said. “We’ve got all the confidence in Roman. Roman’s got all the confidence in Roman, and that’s what matters.”

Riggs’s penalty kick in the 15th minute put Liberty on the board Thursday at Ed Barker Field in a 3-0 win against Iowa City West.

“I trained with my teammates all summer leading up to this point,” Riggs said. “It’s just awesome to finally be out there with them competing, and of course, winning.”

As a sophomore, Riggs was instrumental in Liberty’s 2023 Class 3A state championship run, finishing third on the team with 11 goals.

“He hasn’t played for me since he was a sophomore, and the progression he’s made to this year is breathtaking,” Harding said. “He should charge money to have people come watch him practice. What he does with the ball, he’s got such great control. It’s tough for defenders to take it off him.”

Another returning piece from Liberty’s 2023 title team is senior goalkeeper Conley Sundblad. A starter since his sophomore year, Sundblad has yet to allow a goal this season.

“Communication is huge, and that’s something we struggled with last year,” Harding said. “Conley really becoming more of a vocal leader in goal is huge. It builds confidence in everybody playing in front of him when he’s helping direct.”

The 2025 Bolts are also getting contributions across the field.

Six-foot-three junior Collin Weis tallied his first goal of the season Thursday with 17:30 remaining, giving the Bolts some insurance. Senior Japhet Bongo added a late goal, his second of the year, to round out the scoring.

“The guys really stepped up tonight,” Harding said. “I was happy for them to put together a result like that after the year that we had last year.”

It’s been an impressive start for a Bolts team that finished 5-9 in 2024.

“We’ve set some lofty goals for this season,” Harding said. “Putting together results like this really helps us get there.”

The Bolts opened the year with a 2-0 win over Muscatine and a 4-0 victory over Waukee on April 5 at Trojan Stadium.

“We’re off to a pretty good start, but we have a lot of room to work,” Riggs said. “We are getting lucky at times, but that’s how sports are. If we can keep doing that, we can win all our games.”

Liberty heads to Iowa City High for its next match on April 15.

“We turn around and now we get to go play City High,” Harding said. “The MVC (Mississippi Valley Conference) is stacked with so many talented squads, so there's no rest. We're going to have to turn the page quickly.”