Liberty University Club Sports
Temple University
Flames keep foot on gas after halftime, torch Temple in season-opener, 19-7
2/11/2023 12:06:30 AM | Men's Lacrosse
After senior attack Cooper Branham racked up five of its eight goals in the first half, Liberty University’s men’s lacrosse team had eight different finishers as it outscored ALC North Region rival Temple University 11-3 in the second half of a 19-7 triumph in Friday’s regular-season opener at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.
“It was good to see a bunch of different names on the stat sheet,” said Branham, who totaled six goals and one assist. “It was nice to have that connection early on. We got to play (the Owls) up there (in Philadelphia) for the first time (a 19-8 win last season), so it was nice to be able to have them down here to set the tone for our conference as a whole, so everyone knows where we stand.”
Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan was pleased with the way the Flames retaliated after allowing Temple to go on a 4-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters with a 4-0 scoring spurt of their own.
“They got back within three there for a little bit,” he said. “Fortunately, we started really well and built a lot of good momentum early before we kind of let our foot off the gas and then found our mojo again to finish out the game. I felt like we did a good job of controlling the game. Give them credit, they battled back in it and made it a game there and really forced us to get back to the basics. Obviously, when it was 9-6, we were a little bit uncomfortable with that, but the guys responded really well, and when we got the momentum back we never gave Temple a chance to get back into it.”
Senior midfielder Cameron Carter started the scoring before assisting sophomore middie Will Geary, and Cooper Branham finished the first of three assists from freshman younger brother and fellow attack Luke Branham for a 3-0 lead. A driving double-pump finish by junior middie Keaton Mohs under close defensive coverage extended Liberty’s lead to 4-0 with 9:38 left in the first quarter.
Less than two minutes later, Temple ended the shutout on a howitzer out of the stick of Zach Lawrence from near the top of the box before Cooper Branham fired a rocket from the left side of the box off an assist from Carter from up top to make it 5-1 at the 4:44 mark. He scored the next three goals, the first set up by his brother and last off an alley-oop assist from Mohs for a slam-dunk finish from deep in the left crease to stretch Liberty’s lead to 8-1.
Junior goalie Eric Warnstrom (7 saves) had returned to his cage just in time to intercept a long Temple shot destined for the net before that.
After the Owls netted the last three goals before halftime to cut the deficit to 8-4 and the first of the third quarter, Cooper Branham stopped the Temple run by finishing a feed from junior attack Braden Landry, pushing Liberty’s lead to 9-5. Landry went on to net a hat trick of his own, the last off an assist across the goal mouth from Geary for a diving finish in the right crease.
Graduate midfielder Ethan Bohannon won seven of nine faceoffs in the first half and five of 10 in the second to help give the Flames an advantage in time of possession. Long-stick midfielder Luke Rafferty added eight ground-ball pickups with fellow senior middie Remy Newton picking up five and Geary four, all in the first half.
“They’re a talented team,” McQuillan said of the Owls. “They’re going to have a lot of success this year. They’ve got some really good players and we probably benefited from playing them early in the season. We’re going to continue to get better and they will as well. It’s a long season.”
The Flames return to action on Sunday at noon to face ALC South Region opponent North Carolina State at noon back at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields, where Temple will take on the Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon.
“It will be exciting to see how they play against NC State and see how we will match up (with the Wolfpack),” Cooper Branham said.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
