Men’s lacrosse hounded by Huskies in rare one-goal, home-opening setback

Saturday, February 17

Lynchburg, VA

5:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Northeastern University

Flames sophomore Shane Supek picks up a ground ball to win one of his 10 faceoffs against Northeastern. (Photos by Matt Reynolds)

Men’s lacrosse hounded by Huskies in rare one-goal, home-opening setback

2/18/2024 12:24:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty led from the start until deep into the fourth quarter before letting Northeastern steal a win in wintry conditions at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

Gallery: (2-17-2024) Mens lacrosse vs. Northeastern

In a defensive battle between top-10 teams in MCLA Division I, Liberty University's men's lacrosse team felt the Northeastern chill as temperatures dipped into the 30s and let its home opener slip away against the Huskies, 8-7, Saturday night at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

"Obviously it's disappointing to come up short," graduate midfielder Mark Rolewicz said, noting that the Flames were playing without senior middie Keaton Mohs who suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday's practice. "It was a great first game atmosphere here tonight with a lot of alumni back in the stands. They're a great team with a lot of guys back from last year's national (tournament team)."

"We knew Northeastern was a very strong opponent and to play them this early in the season was a tough test, but give them all the credit because this is their first game of the season and they did it on the road," Liberty Head Coach McQuillan added. "Northeastern is a fantastic team and I think they're going to have a very successful season, but I think we let that one get away from us. I think we beat ourselves. It feels like it was a game we should have won, we had in hand and we let them come in and take it from us."

He said the Flames showed plenty of flashes of offensive potential, but they relied on their defense too much in the end.

"Our defense played really well," McQuillan said. "That's a very good team on both sides of the ball, but particularly on offense. It's tough when you're playing as much defense as we were, the offense wasn't able to get into a rhythm. Northestern was down here getting new possessions and new shot clocks and we were getting the ball down here and throwing it away."

Senior goalie Eric Warnstrom more than held his own, making nine saves in the contest. Sophomore middie Shane Supek won 10 out of 18 faceoffs and scored a goal for the Flames after one of them.

"Shane did great," McQuillan said. "Shane is a Swiss Army knife for us. He takes faceoffs for us, he can play defensive middie, he got a goal today as an offensive middie."

After fending off a few scoring chances that would have tied the game early in the second quarter, Liberty extended its lead to 3-1 just over five minutes in when sophomore attack Luke Branham finished a fast-break feed from sophomore middie Luke Campbell, a transfer from NCAA Division III York (Pa.).

The Huskies pulled within 3-2 at the 7:25 mark of the second quarter before Campbell put the Flames up 4-2 with a shot from the left side, assisted by junior attack Will Geary.

Northeastern's Dan Delaus drew his team within 4-3 at the end of the second quarter and tied it at 4 just 34 seconds into the third before junior middie Peyton Doyle put the Flames up 5-4 off an assist from Geary at the 11:38 mark.

The Huskies tied it back up before Liberty reclaimed a 6-5 lead on a fourth-quarter goal by Rolewicz before allowing Northeastern to net three unanswered scores.

"It wasn't until late in the game that we gave up a lead, but there were a lot of moments in that game where I thought we should have been able to put some distance between us and them and we just didn't," McQuillan said. "To Northeastern's credit, they hung in there and they were waiting for us to make mistakes and when you make mistakes against good teams like them, they are going to capitalize."

Campbell pulled the Flames back within 8-7 by finishing an assist from Branham and Liberty got the ball back with just over a minute to play, but wasted precious time on transition before narrowly missing the potential equalizer.

"We didn't get a great look," Rolewicz said. "We were kind of rushing things a bit, maybe should have waited a little longer for the shot, but we were running out of time and their guy made a good play, unfortunately for us."

"Those are games that we need to win and thankfully, it's a lesson that we're able to learn early in the season, but we've got to learn quick," McQuillan added.

Rolewicz knows that next Saturday's showdown against South Carolina, the Flames' former SELC rival, back at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields will be at least as stiff a test.

"They're a tough team," he said. "We've had a lot of history playing with them. We've come up short against them the last two times, but we've got to find a way to win next Saturday. We've just got to execute and maybe figure out a little more chemistry on offense."

McQuillan said the setback was an early reality check for the Flames, and will be a test of their fortitude to come back stronger next Saturday.

"We're a very good team (and) I will be excited to see how these guys respond to this because we had a lot of games like this last year where we won," he said. "We had five or six one-goal games that we were able to end on the positive side and it was great … for confidence. Maybe, being on the wrong side of this one early in the season will send a message that these guys need to hear."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer