Liberty University Club Sports
Indiana University
Flames get goals from 12 players, near shutout from defense in 21-1 hosing of Hoosiers
3/13/2022 7:09:14 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Two days after suffering its first setback of the season at home against No. 4 Clemson, Liberty University’s No. 1-ranked men’s lacrosse team showed little mercy to non-conference foe Indiana in their first-ever meeting, burying the Hoosiers, 21-1 at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.
“After Friday, it was needed that we respond that way and kind of assure ourselves and each other that we can not only respond, but also remind ourselves of our level of play and what we’re capable of,” Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said.
The Flames (6-1) outscored Indiana, 5-0 in the first, third, and fourth quarters and 6-1 in the second. Graduate goalie Ryan Reynolds made five saves in the first half before being relieved by sophomore backup Eric Warnstrom in the second, when he made six stops to keep Indiana (3-3) at one goal for the game.
“Obviously, any time you can keep a team to one goal, that’s a huge success for your defense,” McQuillan said. “Ryan Reynolds made some good saves in the first half, and for Eric Warnstrom to play as well as he did in the second half and to pitch a shutout, he was actually the recipient of the game ball. Indiana had some good shots that required him to get a good read on them and he did a really good job in the cage for us. Hopefully, this game gives him a big boost of confidence.”
Liberty netted three quick goals to open the game on shots from the top of the box by graduate attack Carter Elliott, senior middle Thomas Pinel, and sophomore middie Ryan Merbach. Then, left open in the box, senior attack Ryan O’Connor finished a feed from Elliott with a high-powered shot to extend Liberty’s lead to 4-0 before Keaton Mohs stretched it to 5-0 with a sharp-angled shot from the left side with 1:55 left in the first quarter.
The Flames continued to pour it on in the second as senior attack Cooper Branham finished his shot from deep in the right side of the box before Elliott struck again and senior attack Mark Rolewicz rifled a shot from the top of the box to make it 8-0. Freshman attack Calvin Hurt capped the 9-0 scoring onslaught by putting away a cross-crease pass from Elliott before freshman attack Liam Hurley ended the shutout for Indiana with 10:06 to play on a shot from the left side.
Hurt started a new streak for the Flames by taking another left-to-right cross-crease assist, this time from Merbach, and finished from point-blank range to make it 10-1 with 6:28 to play.
“We were able to use a lot of our depth today and our bench and didn’t see any drop in play when we did that, so I was proud of the entire team and way they responded today,” McQuillan said.
Pinel capped the first-half scoring with a driving one-on-one finish past Indiana senior goalie Matt O’Donnell, padding the lead to 11-1 with 35 seconds remaining.
Branham opened the third-quarter scoring by taking a pass from O’Connor at the top left side of the box and ripping a shot past O’Donnell before freshman middie Will Geary drove to about the same spot and fired a contested shot through traffic to expand Liberty’s advantage to 13-1.
Senior attack Cameron Carter then made a running shot into the left side before junior attack Liam Jungles emerged from behind the right side of the cage and finished his shot to become Liberty’s 11th goal-scorer of the game, stretching its lead to 15-1. Carter then darted from behind the right side of the goal to about the same spot before sending a pass out to Branham for a perimeter shot from the left and a 16-1 margin at the end of the third quarter.
After killing off a minute-long man-down situation, the Flames struck again on a beautiful fadeaway feed through the box from O’Connor to Rolewicz near the left crease for a well-placed putaway, before Mohs drove and dished to Merbach in the left side of the box for a submarine shot and 18-1 advantage.
Rolewicz then received Mohs’ assist from behind the cage and completed his hat trick with a sharp-angled shot from the right side before freshman middie Ezra Anderson became the Flames’ 12th goal-scorer by taking a pass from behind the cage from freshman Aiden Miller and unleashing a perimeter shot from the right side to put them up, 20-1, with 5:00 to play.
Finally, Merbach sprinted out from behind the left side of the goal and fired a quick shot into the back of the net to complete his hat trick and cap the scoring.
“It’s definitely a big win for us,” Rolewicz said. “Before the game, Coach (McQuillan) said this was the most important game of the year for us because coming off a loss against Clemson, we really needed to bounce back and get a big win, and I think we came out here and played a full, complete game. We’ve got to go 100 percent all game, every game, and play our brand of lacrosse.”
Liberty will travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday and spend Thursday doing touristy things there before facing Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) North Region opponent Temple University for the first time in program history.
“We have a lot of time to prepare for that game that has a lot on the line (for ALC standings),” McQuillan said. “Heading up to Philly for our first overnight road trip of the year, the guys are looking forward to getting away from school and having some fun on the road.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
