Men’s Lacrosse Wins Over Temple University 23-3 On March 22

Liberty University Men’s Lacrosse team dominated over Temple University 23-3 on March 22 at the East Campus Field House.  

Graduate student faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett allowed the Flames to win the opening faceoff. Hammett successfully won 12 of his 14 attempts against Temple while scoring his own goal in the first quarter.  

Flames graduate student attacker Braden Landry began the game with a goal only a few minutes in, which was quickly followed by another goal by senior midfielder Shane Supek.  

Landry had a noteworthy performance against Temple with six assists and two goals. 

“Today the message for the guys was just to play our style and play our pace,” Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. “… Be consistent with who we are and what we do, and don’t worry about who we play against.”  

Liberty led 5-0 by the end of the first quarter, while Hammett began the second quarter winning the faceoff. Temple remained scoreless throughout the first half of the game. 

Sophomore goalie Ian Carvajal began the game in the goal for the Flames where he made four saves, not allowing any goals for Temple. The switch was made in the second half, putting in freshman goalie Caden Maurer.  

Senior midfielder Will Geary scored three goals, two unassisted, for the Flames in the first half of the game as they led 13-0 heading into halftime.  

“We’ve had a pretty tough stretch here for seven games. We started our season with a very difficult schedule on the front half,” McQuillan said. “This … wasn’t as close on the scoreboard as some of our more recent games.” 

Within the first 13 seconds of the third quarter, sophomore long stick midfielder Peyton Park scored his only goal of the game while he also picked up two ground balls and forced two turnovers. 

Freshman midfielder Josiah Hoopman had a single goal from behind the back, which stunned the crowd. Maurer was not able to hold the shutout, allowing Temple to score its first goal late in the third quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, graduate student attacker midfielder Keaton Mohs scored two goals back-to-back within only 52 seconds. Mohs also had a goal previously in the second quarter as well as two assists.  

“We just had so many guys with really good performances,” McQuillan said. “… Keaton had a great game, Keaton always has great games, and three goals and two assists.” 

There were 16 different players that scored in this contest. Flames with multiple goals included Landry (two goals, six assists), Geary (three goals), Mohs (three goals, two assists) and sophomore attacker Thomas Dyson (two goals).  

“It was a fun day for lacrosse,” McQuillan said. “The guys played really well, and I mean really controlled the game from start to finish.” 

Single goals came from senior defensemen Conor Guiltinan and Ben Chun, the first of his career; Supek, who took over faceoffs the second half of the game winning nine out of 10; junior attacker Luke Branham; sophomore midfielders Hunter Rockhill and Harris Shook; Park; freshmen midfielders Parker Ackerman and Hoopman; and freshman attacker midfielder Benjamin Papendick, who had his first collegiate goal.  

“This was a conference divisional game, so we are one step closer to earning a one seed for our playoff,” McQuillan said. “But (the) guys have put themselves in a really strong position, and for the rest of the way, the expectation is we can win out the rest of our regular season.” 

The Flames will host the Texas A&M University Aggies March 28 at 7 p.m. 

“We are in great position right now,” McQuillan said. “We control our own destiny. We have the opportunity.” 

Youngworth is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.