Liberty University Club Sports
Colorado State University
Shorthanded Flames survive trial by fire, cap weekend sweep by charging past Rams
2/26/2023 5:58:43 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Back-to-back games against No. 18 Colorado and No. 19 Colorado State tested Liberty University’s No. 4-ranked men’s lacrosse team’s resolve against legitimate threats at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields over the weekend, and the Flames drew upon their reserves to persevere.
After withstanding a steady second-half comeback by the Buffaloes to hold on for a one-goal win on Saturday morning, Liberty (4-1) overcame an 8-7 deficit with five unanswered goals late in the third quarter and early in the fourth before adding one more at the end of a 13-8 triumph over the Rams (2-2) on Sunday afternoon.
“We knew coming into today it was going to be a grind,” Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said, noting that the Flames were without five starters due to injury or illness. “We told the guys at the beginning that this was going to be a dogfight, and that there were going to be games where we don’t have everybody available and we’ve got to be able to just find ways to win. Ton of credit to Colorado and Colorado State for making the trip out here. They battled and I thought deserve a lot of respect. I’m really proud of these guys and how they played, how they responded. We were surviving today, just trying to change things up, get our guys in and just kind of hold on.”
“It was a good test of our resilience, definitely, and also a good test of our depth, to see those second- and third-line guys step up and fill those roles,” added senior attack Cooper Branham, who finished with 3 goals and 3 assists. “We had some injuries, so coming in it was no secret that we were shorthanded and we knew this was probably not going to be the prettiest of our games, but that we were just going to have to grind. It was going to be a gritty game and we were just going to have to fight hard … and we did a good job of that in the second half.”
Liberty opened an early 5-2 lead capped by Branham’s assist to graduate midfielder Cameron Carter for a fantastic shot from the left side of the box into the top-right corner of the cage.
CSU attack Owen Wellschlager fired consecutive goals from left side of the box into the upper netting before junior goalie Eric Warnstrom (13 saves) made spectacular stabs of low shots by Jared McFarren and Nick Chastain while the Rams were on a three-minute man advantage.
“Goaltending is vitally important and in the big moments, Ric (Warnstrom) made some epic saves that … gave us the ball back and allowed us to go down and kill some time off the clock and finish a lot of those offensive possessions with some points,” McQuillan said.
Chastain’s running shot down the right side of box into back of net tied the score at 6-6 before Branham rifled a shot from the left side just under the crossbar and Chastain netted a shorthanded equalizer on a running shot past Flames sophomore midfielder Will Geary and Warnstrom into the top-left corner of the cage.
After another score by Chastain tied it at 7 at the 10:02 mark of the second quarter, freshman attack Caron Malinowsky emerged from behind the Flames’ cage and finished unassisted from point-blank range up top, prompting Liberty to call a timeout trailing 8-7 with 6:21 left in the third quarter.
“We let them come back a little too much there in the first half and we had to come swinging in the second half and we did a good job of that,” Branham said. “(Freshman middie) Tanner (Wallen) came out and had a clutch goal (assisted by junior attack Braden Landry), so that was awesome to see. It was a good test of the team that we want to be.”
After a defensive stop early in the second half, Carter darted out from behind the right side of the CSU net and finished a tough turnaround shot into the bottom-left sector of the net, tying it at 8. Warnstrom made a high save of a steal and running shot by Kale Kissell before Branham sent a great entry pass from behind the left side of cage to Landry in front for quick catch-and-release finish and a 9-8 Liberty lead.
Then in the fourth quarter, Branham then gave the Flames some separation with a running rip down the right side of box that bounced off the upper netting and out, just under crossbar. He then snuck in an incredible over-the-shoulder, no-look shot while falling down on another drive down the right side of the box to extend the lead to 11-8 at the 8:40 mark.
“I knew there were only a few seconds on the shot clock, so I didn’t have my hands free going forward, so I thought I could just swing it behind me, and it happened to work out,” Branham said. “That play was definitely a momentum shift for us. That got our sideline and our whole team juiced up, so that was great.”
“Coop was big for us,” McQuillan added of Branham. “When you lose somebody as talented as both (junior middie) Keaton (Mohs) and (freshman attack) Luke (Branham), you need your star players to step up and have big games and that’s what he did today.”
Geary (team-high 5 goals) capped the scoring with two scores in the final 7:51, the first on a sensational drive around the left side into the center of the box before bouncing his shot inside the right post.
“It’s always the next-guy-up mentality (and) today was a really good example, as guys got in and played big in big moments and it was really good to see,” McQuillan said. “It was a good team win.”
“Ton of credit to the defensive side of the ball really holding them,” he added. “The way we played the fourth quarter was the game plan for all four quarter. If you’re going to finish it, that was the best way to do it. They can’t score if they don’t have the ball. It’s the same type of thing in football, the best defense is a good offense. Our attack and all of our midfielders did a really good job of going late into possessions, being patient, and just milking that last quarter.”
Freshman faceoff specialist Lance Bruno won 6 of his 9 faceoffs before injuring his ankle in the first half and junior Ethan Bohannon, who started the season at that spot, stepped in and won 6 of his 10 tries.
After playing its first five games at home, now it is Liberty’s turn to travel. They will rest and recover from their injuries over next weekend before meeting No. 2 Georgia Tech (6-0) at a neutral site in Wingate, N.C., on March 11 and continuing their Spring Break by flying to Utah over Spring Break to face No. 23 Utah Valley on March 16 and No. 9 BYU on March 18.
“We’ve got (No. 8) Concordia from California coming here (for Liberty’s next home game on April 7), so our schedule and our opportunities ahead of us are exactly what we need to put us in the driver’s seat and in the best position for the push toward the national tournament,” McQuillan said. “We’re wanting to do something that no Liberty team has done before. Winning an ALC tournament and backing that up with a national championship is what our goal is.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
