Men’s Lacrosse Earns Third Win OVer NCAA Foe This Weekend

Liberty’s men’s lacrosse team notched its third victory against a NCAA team this season with a 14-9 dismantling of the Walsh University Cavaliers March 13, continuing a strong start to the season for the Flames.

The first five minutes of play favored the Cavaliers as they took a 3-0 lead, but Mohs got the scoring started for Liberty, eventually tying things up 3-3. The action slowed until the 10-minute mark of the second half when the Cavaliers and Flames exchanged goals before the Flames took their first lead at 5-4.

“They came out on us and got three pretty quick goals and stole momentum,” Coach Kyle McQuillan said. “A lot of credit goes to our guys to battle back into that game … I thought they showed a lot of resiliency.”

The third quarter of the game provided more back-and-forth action as the Cavaliers tied the game right before Liberty’s Caleb Britton put the Flames back on top in a hurry. By the end of the third quarter, the Flames had scored 13 of their 14 goals, cementing Liberty’s eventual 14-9 victory.

McQuillan said his message to his team at halftime was to embrace the challenge. 

“I tried to get the guys excited for the fact that this is why you play the game,” McQuillan said. “Nobody likes to go to the games where you win by 15-20 points, and these are the type of games where you learn and determine what type of team we are. These are the types of games we want to be in.”

The Flames got some key contributions from Mohs (three goals), Jackson Miller (three goals and three assists) and Caleb Britton (four goals and one assist) as well as a solid performance from goalie Ryan Reynolds, who logged 14 saves. 

“Reynolds provided the big swing in momentum,” McQuillan said. “There was one series where he made three saves in a span of 10-15 seconds. That is a huge confidence boost for everybody.”

With wins against Southern Virginia University and Roanoke College already under his players’ belts, the win against another NCAA program was not something that caught McQuillan off guard. 

“We knew from the beginning we had the athletes and the talent to be able to win,” McQuillan said. “We had to prove it out on the field. It took us a little time to kind of get into our groove, but I think we were able to find it in the second (half).” 

The Flames were back in action this weekend with a doubleheader in Knoxville that included a 14-11 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday and a 12-8 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers Sunday, March 20 and 21.  

Zac Zehnder is a Sports Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @zaczehnder.