Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Flames roll over GWU, raising record to 12-0 for first time
4/7/2019 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Junior attack Caleb Britton netted four goals, senior attack Sam Gregory racked up three goals and four assists, and senior midielder C.J. Nichols added two goals and three assists to lead Liberty University's men's lacrosse team to a 24-8 rout of SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC) Northwest Region rival George Washington, Sunday in Herndon, Va.
The Flames, ranked third in MCLA Division I, improved to 12-0 for the first time in program history. Liberty started 11-0 in 2013 when it played at the Division II level. The Flames are now 8-0 against GWU (2-6), with the last seven wins coming after joining the Colonials in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) DI Northwest Region.
"Today was a great day to get everybody some quality minutes and a good opportunity for coaches to give them feedback," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "Hopefully, that will help us moving forward, especially if we have to deal with injuries in the postseason, when it is so important to have experienced backups."
Liberty led 9-1 after the first quarter and 16-2 at the half. The victory came just 36 hours after the Flames completed their seventh straight Midnight Mayhem win, over Minnesota early Saturday.
"It was good practice on being able to turn around and play another game with a short turnaround, which is what you've got to do if you want to win an SELC championship," McQuillan said. "The guys came out and were consistent. Obviously, there were some things we'd like to clean up. We let them score six goals in the second half."
Freshman midfielder Cameron Carter completed a hat trick by tacking on the game's final two goals, the last an intended pass to junior attack Noah Rude (two goals) that ricocheted off the helmet of a Colonials defender into the back of the net.
Sophomore attack Thomas Pinel and junior attack Elijah Britton also scored twice, with Britton capping the first-half with a behind-the-back goal and starting the second-half by finishing a feed from sophomore attack Austin Aguilar. Freshman midfielder Ryan O'Connor distributed two assists.
"We had players with a lot of points up and down our roster," McQuillan said.
Senior Brayden Harriman (two saves, two goals allowed in the first half) and junior Ryan Reynolds (six saves, six goals allowed in the second) split time in goal and freshmen faceoff specialists Cole Jankowsky (14-for-17) and Shane Reynolds (11-for-17) both experienced success.
The Flames will conclude their home schedule against Tennessee at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields this Friday at 7:30 p.m., when they will honor their eight graduating players on Senior Night, before wrapping up their regular season at another Northwest Region foe, Virginia Tech on April 20.
"We end our regular season with three regional opponents," McQuillan said. "A win over Tennessee will lock us into the SELC playoffs and then the game against Virginia Tech will determine the first or second seed."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
