Liberty University Club Sports
Virginia Tech
Men’s lacrosse concludes fall season by holding off Hokies at home, 11-9
10/29/2021 11:31:48 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Graduate goalie Ryan Reynolds made multiple clutch saves and graduate attack Carter Elliott netted three goals to help Liberty University’s men’s lacrosse team rally from an early 3-0 deficit to top ALC rival Virginia Tech, 11-9, in the Flames’ fall season finale, Friday night at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.
“Virginia Tech is always going to be a dogfight and it’s a great way to finish our fall ball season off,” Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. “We wanted a good competition and some good rivalry and we got it, so we really appreciate Virginia Tech coming out (to Lynchburg).”
Liberty will return the favor when it closes out the spring regular season against the Hokies, April 15 in Blacksburg, Va.
McQuillan was pleased to see the Flames strike back quickly after Virginia Tech attack Grayson Barker gave the Hokies a 3-0 lead with his third goal at the 4:21 mark of the first quarter, prompting a timeout. Liberty answered faster than it had after falling behind 10-0 by halftime in its Oct. 16 scrimmage at NCAA Division III Hampden-Sydney, where its second-half comeback fell just short in a 13-12 defeat in Farmville, Va.
“That was not the way that we wanted to start,” he said of being down 3-0 on Friday night. “We were shorthanded (at Hampden-Sydney) and the guys responded, but it was too little, too late. Today, the message was, ‘We’ve got to respond earlier,’ and the guys did that … going up 5-3 (at the half) and we never gave the lead back. So the guys did a great job of taking back momentum and keeping it and controlling the rest of the game.”
Senior midfielder Thomas Pinel got the Flames on the scoreboard with a shifty move into the box and well-placed finish past Virginia Tech goalie Hunter LeClair with 3:26 left in the first quarter before Elliott received an assist from senior attack Cooper Branham in the left side of the box and rifled a shot under the crossbar to trim the Hokies’ lead to 3-2.
Senior attack Mark Rolewicz knotted the score at 3-3 by finishing a feed from Branham at the 13:03 mark in the second quarter before Reynolds made perhaps his biggest save of the night, rejecting a one-on-one attempt by Barker on a breakaway after a steal near midfield, preserving the tie.
“To call him a difference-maker is an understatement,” McQuillan said of Reynolds. “He can just take opportunities away from teams that should be goals and should be points and should be momentum going in the opposition’s direction and just not allow that stuff to happen. He’s a huge asset for us, and I think tonight kind of proved why he was the ALC defensive player of the year last year.”
Reynolds made two more blocks of perimeter shots by the Hokies before Elliott netted the go-ahead goal by reversing his tracks behind the cage and putting away a sharp-angled shot from the right side 5:50 before halftime.
Elliott helped set up the Flames’ final score of the half after Elliott sent a pass from behind the net to senior middie Cameron Carter, who set up Branham in the right side of the box, where he ripped a shot into the upper netting with 1:09 remaining.
Virginia Tech cut the Flames advantage to 5-4 on an unassisted shot by Aidan Smith less than a minute into the second half, but Branham answered off an assist from Rolewicz to give Liberty a 6-4 cushion with 10:33 to go in the third quarter, and senior middie Ryan O’Connor stretched the lead to 7-4 with the first of his two goals at the 6:20 mark.
Hokies attack Michael Deissler trimmed the deficit to 7-5 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter before O’Connor capitalized on an assist from Pinel 30 seconds later, giving the Flames a three-goal lead, 8-5, going into the fourth. Goals by junior middie Remy Newton, freshman middie Willem Geary on a breakaway, and Elliott, who completed his hat trick, extended Liberty’s lead to 11-7, sealing the win down the stretch.
“We’ve got to be able to roll with the punches and play with what we have, and tonight, from a coaching perspective, it was great to have a full complement of our roster available to us,” McQuillan said. “We wish we could have gotten a little deeper into our bench, but ultimately what’s really good for our younger guys is to see this game and see the level of competition and see a team like Virginia Tech. Even if you didn’t touch the field, there’s a lot to learn and a lot to be gained from being a part of this game.”
He expects more of the underclassmen to step into key roles in the spring after continuing to develop strength, speed, and stick skills over the winter months.
“Fall is pretty short and we don’t play a ton of games,” McQuillan said. “Our spring, we have a whole slew of games, so we need to be even deeper than we were tonight.”
Following the lead of the men’s indoor volleyball and women’s beach volleyball teams, the Flames will travel to Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Va., Nov. 11 to assist U.S. Army National Guard and Marine Corps in supporting the 10,000-plus Afghanistan guests based there after being forced from their homeland by the Taliban.
Liberty will host NCAA DIII Roanoke College in an exhibition game Feb. 5 before opening its 2022 season Feb. 19 against reigning 2019 MCLA National Champion University of South Carolina at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
