No. 2-ranked Sun Devils stop Flames' last-second shot to tie
3/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Three nights after taking No. 8 Arizona to overtime in a 9-8 loss, Liberty University's men's lacrosse team, ranked 16th in the latest MCLA Division I poll, found itself tied with No. 2 Arizona State in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, the Flames allowed the Sun Devils to net the game-winner with 18 seconds remaining in regulation of an 11-10 defeat, Friday night in Tempe, Ariz.
"Obviously, it was not the outcome we wanted," Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "It was close. We had the last shot and had a chance to tie it up and force overtime, but their goalie made a great save."
Flames junior midfielder Charles Fianko won the final faceoff, pushing the ball to junior midfielder Bryce Mrakovich, who picked it up and found junior attack Ryan Miller open at top of the box. Miller, on pace to become the MCLA's all-time leading scorer, penetrated and fired a shot with just three seconds left. But ASU sophomore goalie Chris Roufanis made the stop and ran out the clock, sitting in the crease with the ball in his stick.
The Sun Devils (7-1) defeated third-ranked Colorado State last week, two days after suffering their first loss to top-ranked Colorado, 15-14. Liberty's setback was its third in a row on its spring break road trip out West after falling to Grand Canyon, 14-9 on Thursday afternoon.
The Flames (3-3) trailed 6-4 at half and 8-5 after three quarters before outscoring the Sun Devils 5-3 in the fourth. "It definitely took a fourth-quarter surge to get ourselves back into it," McQuillan said.
Miller scored four goals to finish tied with junior midfielder Brett Bernardo for the team lead. Both netted equalizers, in the first minute of the second quarter and the last minute of the first, respectively.
"Ryan didn't have a great game against Grand Canyon, but he was able to respond in a big way today," McQuillan said. "Our midfielders stepped up and contributed as well."
Junior middie Chad Moore scored two goals — finishing the first top shelf from the perimeter to tie the game at 1-1 — and distributed three assists to pace the Flames with five points.
Mrakovich dished out three assists while freshman attack Nick Lombardozzi and senior goalie Ethan Kamholtz each had one.
"Ethan thought we were still a man down and cleared ball from our zone and sent it downfield," McQuillan said of Kamholtz' assist. "He literally threw it the entire length of the field and Ryan (Miller) was there to make a heads-up play and he scored."
Kamholtz stopped 14 shots for the second consecutive game, this time allowing 11 goals.
"Our first game, he didn't have a great showing, but he definitely was able to back that up with great games against Grand Canyon and Arizona State," McQuillan said. "He kept us in it in that fourth quarter and made some great saves."
Fianko won 11 of 25 faceoffs against ASU senior Zack Handy, who has won 691 out of 947 faceoffs (73 percent) in his career.
"Charles had a great game, facing off against Zach Handy who's usually pretty decisive in winning faceoffs," McQuillan said. "Chuck gave us a fighting chance almost every single faceoff and definitely gave us a chance to win."
A night after being run over by Grand Canyon's transition game, the Flames often ran their set offense for minutes at a time.
"Part of the game plan, when we had possession, was to slow the ball down, to keep it close and give our guys on defense a little bit of a break," McQuillan said. "We were able to limit ASU's transition opportunities and we definitely had a lot of success scoring with our set offensive plays. Their style of play is very similar to ours, so it was a good matchup for us. Both teams were patient on attack."
Liberty traveled to Arizona with only 24 of the 34 players on its roster, leaving the Flames with less than half as many players on their sideline as the Sun Devils had on theirs.
"We played a lot of lacrosse this week and we actually held up really well in the Arizona heat," McQuillan said. "ASU had a roster of 50 players and our guys were able to run step-by-step with them the entire game. Hopefully, if we are fortunate enough to make it to (the MCLA) National Championships, will be able to bring our whole team."
He is confident the Flames can shake off their first three losses of the season, knowing they were against three teams ranked in the top 10 in MCLA Division I.
"The guys were really upset with the outcome of today's game, but for us and what we were trying to accomplish, I think we did what we needed to do," McQuillan said. "We did take three losses this week, but we're only going to use them as fuel and fire and motivation. The season's still young, so we've got to focus on winning the SELC (SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference) and prepare to play at nationals."
The Flames return to the Liberty Lacrosse Field on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game against Oklahoma, which is unranked despite getting off to a 5-1 start.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer