Men’s lacrosse finds victory despite lightning delay

The Liberty men’s lacrosse team took the field for a matchup with one of the top five teams, the South Carolina Gamecocks, on Feb. 24. After an unexpected loss to
Northeastern, the Flames responded with an emphatic win of 11-8.  

As the players trotted out for warm-ups on the field, heavy rain, lightning and even hail caused a game delay of 30 minutes. However, this would not stop the Flames from winning it all. 

Liberty had an exciting first quarter, notching the first four of 11 goals scored on the day. Just 45 seconds into the game, senior midfielder Keaton Mohs started the Liberty Flames off strong with the first goal of the day. This was Mohs’ first game back off of an injury due to a rolled ankle, and the midfielder was expected to be at a mere 75 percent going into the match; but with his opening goal, he didn’t seem to be at only 75 percent.

Not long after, the Flames scored yet again, this time with a rocket that came off the stick of sophomore attacker Luke Branham, who was assisted by sophomore midfielder Shane Supek. South Carolina came back to score on an empty net due to a miscommunication on the Flames’ 10-man ride, making the score 2-1. But Mohs punched back with his second score of the night shortly after. Senior goalie Eric Warnstrom had an amazing save near the end of the first quarter, closing the frame out strong 3-1. 

The Flames poured it on to open the second quarter, adding four more goals onto Mohs’ second of the evening to give the team a 5-0 run, the first of which came from junior middie Will Geary. Not stopping there, Geary scored the very next goal with 9:49 left to go in the half. The team closed out the second with another goal by Mohs and the last one by senior attacker Braden Landry, who scored out of midair after a dime from Mohs put him into position to find the back of the net.

With the score 7-3 to start the second half, South Carolina came out the gates strong and sent a shot past Warnstrom, but the Flames rallied to score twice more, the first by junior midfielder Peyton Doyle and the second by freshman middie Hunter Rockhill.

South Carolina would answer once again, pushing the score to 9-5 to end a high-scoring third quarter. 

As the two units entered the fourth, the Flames led by four, but the moment on Liberty’s East Campus felt to be in favor of the Gamecocks. Their star attacker, Casey Hurley, opened the scoring in the fourth for both units, sending a rocket past Warnstrom to bring it within three, the closest the game had been since it began. Another goal from Rockhill would be the Flames’ response as he stepped down right in front of the crease to sink his second of the night. 

After a four-minute scoring drought for both sides, Hurley broke the standoff, bringing the game back within three, and another Gamecock goal rattled the cage of the Flames, who now only led by two. 

Excellent defense from the Flames’ long poles and steady wins on the faceoff dot gave the Flames the edge to pull away the victory with Mohs scoring another in the waning moment to give him his fourth goal and sixth point of the night.

With Mohs scoring the most goals this game, he could be viewed as the most valuable player; but when asked which player really brought the team together and impacted the game tonight, he shied away from taking the praise. 

“Honestly — and this is a great problem to have — I couldn’t name one guy because even from the last guy who didn’t even step in to the top guy, it was all on the same page, and it was really cool to see,” Mohs said.  

Mohs, who scored four of the 11 goals for the Flames and assisted in the two others, reflected on the outcome of the game and what gave the Flames the edge over a higher-ranked opponent in South Carolina.

“I think it was our energy for sure,” Mohs said. “I mean, South Carolina was the top five team, and like getting the chance to come back and defend our home turf is always a fun opportunity, and we were jazzed up in the locker room. We had that rain delay, and everybody was just blaring music, and the energy never died off. It only got more up, so it was awesome.”  

The Flames emerged victorious and with a 2-1 record while also retaining their home win streak over the Gamecocks, who have never bested the Flames in Lynchburg. Next up for
Liberty is a three-game week with ALC rival Virginia Tech Feb. 28 and UConn and West Virginia coming to the Mountain March 2 and 3. 

Johnson is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion