Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Flames showcase offensive firepower, roll over Mountaineers
3/9/2019 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Liberty University's men's lacrosse team opened its spring break road trip by unleashing its high-powered attack and overwhelming West Virginia, 22-3, Saturday afternoon at the WVU Rec Center.
"West Virginia has had a successful season thus far and are a program on the rise, so it was a bit of a surprise to have such a lopsided victory today," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said.
Liberty (5-0, ranked eighth in MCLA Division I) seized a 7-0 lead on the Mountaineers (4-3) after the first quarter and extended it to 12-1 by halftime and 18-1 after the third.
"The guys came out early and set the tone and never looked back," McQuillan said. "Though it was tough to run all of our systems, we were able to use all of our depth and get all of our guys in and the level of play didn't diminish."
The Flames got four goals from junior attack Austin Aguilar, three goals and five assists from sophomore midfielder C.J. Nichols, a hat trick from sophomore attack Thomas Pinel, and two goals apiece from freshman attack Cameron Carter, junior midfielders Derrick Esh and Elijah Britton, senior midfielder Chase Wright, and senior attack Sam Gregory, who also distributed two assists. Junior attack Noah Rude and junior defender Charlie Shier and also scored.
Senior Brayden Harriman played the first half in goal before being relieved by junior Ryan Reynolds in the second, with both making a handful of saves and only giving up one and two goals, respectively.
"They didn't see a ton of shots as our guys did really well in winning faceoffs again and were really effective in creating turnovers on the ride and scoring out of fast-break situations," McQuillan said.
He said the victory gives the Flames a boost of confidence going into games at Davenport on Monday at 9:15 p.m. and No. 4 defending national champion Michigan State, Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.
"It was a great start to our spring break and we want to use this for momentum moving forward," McQuillan said. "We are looking forward to getting a good day of rest and traveling up to Michigan for games against two teams that will test us and give us good runs for our money."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
