Men’s lacrosse manhandles Panthers in windy ALC North showdown
3/21/2023 8:00:20 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Missing a few key players due to sickness and injury, Liberty University’s No. 1-ranked men’s lacrosse team showcased its depth and dominated Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) North Region rival Pittsburgh on Saturday, netting the final 14 goals in a 16-2 victory.
“We scored, they responded, we scored again, and they tied it up, but from the eighth or ninth minute of the first quarter, we were able to take over and take control of the game,” Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said.
The contest, which was supposed to have been played inside the Pitt Sports Dome, was instead moved to a nearby high school’s outdoor turf field.
“They were experiencing some pretty high winds in the Pittsburgh area and that shut the dome down as the wind was causing some problems with the indoor lighting,” McQuillan said. “So we shifted focus and moved outdoors and played through the wind.”
He was proud of the way his players responded, making the best of the situation to pull away from the Panthers (5-3), who won their first five games before suffering their first two setbacks last weekend at No. 8 Georgia and against No. 7 Florida State.
“The guys need to be flexible and have the ability to adapt,” McQuillan said. “We were anticipating and planning to play the game indoors and not having to worry about the elements. They showed they could pivot and change course, and they played a really good game. The wind made it hard to communicate with our guys on the field, but otherwise it wasn’t that much of a factor.”
Freshman faceoff specialist Lance Bruno was awarded the Flame chain after the game for winning 10 of his 12 attempts at the faceoff dot and picking up a team-high six ground balls.
Despite playing without senior Ryan O’Connor and junior Bryn Jungles, Liberty’s defense completely shut down Pitt’s attack after the opening minutes, allowing only five shots on goal over the final 50-plus minutes of play.
“(Junior goalie) Ric (Warnstrom) didn’t see a ton of shots,” McQuillan said. “He finished with just five saves, which is a testament to our defense getting in good position today. (Seniors) Connor Strange-Boston and Levi Lowmaster stepped up big for us.”
Offensively, the Flames featured extremely balanced scoring from a total of 10 players, paced by Bennett Newman’s hat trick and two goals apiece from fellow freshman attack Luke Branham, sophomore midfielder Peyton Doyle (who added two assists), graduate midfielder Cameron Carter (one assist), and graduate attack Cooper Branham (one assist).
Junior midfielder Keaton Mohs scored a goal and distributed two assists, sophomore middie Will Geary contributed one goal and one assist, and sophomore midfielder Ezra Anderson, junior attack Ryan Merbach, and senior middie Remy Newton had one goal apiece while freshman attack Tanner Wallen added an assist. Senior long-stick midfielder Luke Rafferty picked up five ground balls.
“With a quick turnaround (for Sunday’s game at West Virginia), it was great to both get some guys some rest and to get some secondary guys in and get them some valuable experience,” McQuillan said, noting that sophomore attack Braden Landry was also nursing an injury. “We wanted to go deep into our bench, and we were able to get all of our attackmen some minutes, which was great. We told the guys beforehand that in order to push on and make a deep postseason run, we need a lot of depth.”
Being shorthanded, McQuillan said the convincing win gives an added boost of confidence to a team that was only elevated to the No. 1 ranking on Wednesday.
“It is great to see that we’ve got guys who can step in and be relied upon to play their roles,” McQuillan said. “We had guys not only fill the gaps, but do well with the opportunities they were given.”
Faceoff for Sunday’s showdown at ALC North opponent WVU — Liberty’s fifth of seven consecutive away games — is set for noon.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer