Flames showcase offensive firepower, defensive dominance in 17-2 taming of Huskies

Saturday, March 2

Lynchburg, VA

1:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Connecticut

Seconds after winning the opening faceoff, sophomore middie Shane Supek drove past the UConn defense and sparked the offense with the game's first goal. (Photos by Ted Allen)

Flames showcase offensive firepower, defensive dominance in 17-2 taming of Huskies

3/2/2024 6:30:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty (3-2) returns to action on Sunday for a 1 p.m. showdown against ALC North Division rival West Virginia (4-2) at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

Shane-Supek-scoring-drive — Besides winning 13 of 18 faceoffs and picking up 10 ground balls, Supek scored twice and assisted another goal against UConn.

Liberty University's men's lacrosse team, ranked No. 7 in the MCLA, dominated the University of Connecticut from the very start of Saturday afternoon's contest at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields, a 17-2 triumph.

Sophomore middie Shane Supek started the scoring by winning the game-opening faceoff and capitalizing on a fast-break finish in the right crease five seconds later.

"We wanted to come out and set the tone early and Shane winning the faceoff and going down and scoring in the first five seconds was exactly what we asked for," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "Our defense shut them out early and set a tone early on that, essentially saying they were going to have to work really hard to earn their shots and their opportunities."

Luke-Campbell-defends — Flames junior long-stick middie Benjamin Chun defends a Huskies attackman.

The Flames (3-2), who have suffered one-goal losses to No. 6 Northeastern (8-7) and No. 1 Virginia Tech (10-9) and held off No. 8 South Carolina, 11-8, showcased their offensive firepower for the first time since a 23-2 season-opening trouncing of Temple.

"It's been a very difficult schedule early on and we've dropped a couple games," McQuillan said. "We're in a good spot. We're going to be better for the struggles and some of the early losses. We're very optimistic. For us, today was a good chance to get back onto the field, get in the win category, and move forward."

Sophomore attack Luke Branham paced Liberty's attack with five goals and two assists while the Flames also got three goals from junior midfielder Will Geary, two goals and three assists from junior attack Braden Landry, and two goals and one assist from Supek and sophomore attack Luke Campbell.

Supek made it difficult for UConn (0-2) to gain possession of the ball, winning 12 of 19 faceoffs and also grabbing 10 ground balls while junior defender Conor Guiltinan added five ground-ball pickups.

"Shane is our workhorse," Branham said. "Shane does everything for us, from faceoffs to playing a little bit of defensive middie to offensive middie. He's all over the field. Without Shane, we'd be a very different team, so he's a big piece, especially at the beginning of the game."

Senior middie Keaton Mohs (1 goal, 3 assists) scored unassisted in the right side of the box before Branham netted his first goal off an assist from freshman defender Peyton Park at the 11:38 mark. Branham extended Liberty's lead to 4-0 off a feed from Landry 38 seconds later.

"I got five goals this game, but I feel like they were all just given to me by my teammates," Branham said. "They did all the hard work and I was just able to finish the ball. Sometimes, that goes your way and sometimes, you're the one working hard to get other people goals."

Geary scored two spectacular goals to stretch the Flames' edge to 6-1, cutting down the left side of box and finishing an assist by Mohs from behind cage at the 9:15 mark before answering a Huskies score with a great drive to the right post, a quick pivot and cut back into the right crease for a left-handed sidearm finish.

Branham ended the first-quarter scoring by catching an entry pass from Landry, turning, and firing his shot inside the left post. Then in the second quarter, with Liberty on a man advantage, Campbell scored off an assist from Mohs in the left side of the box to wrap up the first-half scoring with 13:14 still to go.

"We had a little bit of a lull there in the second quarter with only one goal after opening a 7-1 lead in the first," McQuillan said. "We scored five times in the third and four more goals in the fourth, so we were pretty consistent with the exception of that second quarter. We are still trying to work toward playing four quarters of consistent lacrosse."

After Geary started the second-half scoring with an authoritative overhand finish off a well-placed skip pass from Mohs from behind the cage. Campbell picked up the rebound of a shot behind the left side of the cage and set up Branham for a point-blank finish in front at the 12:31 mark of the third quarter.

Luke-Branham-defense — Sophomore attack Luke Branham (22) and middie Benjamin LaPole (26) battle UConn.

Seconds after the Huskies scored their second goal, Supek won the ensuing faceoff and fed freshman middie Jayson Houck for a perimeter shot that skipped pat the UConn goalie for an 11-2 advantage at the 10:36 mark.

The Flames' attack executed a series of short passes from left to right across the box — from Geary to Branham to Campbell for a close-range finish in the right crease — to pad the lead to 12-2 with 5:03 to play in the quarter.

"Keaton (Mohs), Braden (Landry), Will (Geary), and Luke Campbell all had some finishes today," Branham said. "We played good team offense and were able to not play one-on-one ball as much."

Supek received a feed from junior middie Ezra Anderson in the left side of the box and ripped a shot into the back of the net for a 13-2 advantage with 21.2 seconds left in the third quarter. Then Landry put away an across-the-box assist from freshman attack Easton Cahill (1G, 2A) with a catch-and-release finish on the right side to stretch Liberty's lead to 14-2 with 8:11 left.

Following a beautiful outlet pass to Geary up the center of the field, Branham converted a fast-break finish off an assist from Park in the left side of the box at the 5:23 mark. Landry later received a pass from Branham and unleashed a sharp-angled shot from the right side with 1:29 to play before Cahill picked up the rebound of Anderson's perimeter shot that bounced off the right pipe to cap the scoring.

The Flames played all three goalies, with senior Eric Warnstrom starting and making three saves while giving up one goal, sophomore Camden Harriman making five saves in the second and third quarters, and freshman Ian Carvajal making two saves while allowing one goal in the fourth quarter.

"Today was another good opportunity to show our depth all over the place and for everybody to get some good minutes," McQuillan said. "We were able to use our full lineup, all three goalies, rotated through our attackmen, all four midfield lines."

The Flames will play their fourth game in eight days when they host Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) North Division rival West Virginia (4-2) on Sunday at 1 p.m. on the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

"West Virginia has consistently been a team that's gotten better every year," McQuillan said. "They've played a lot more games than UConn has so far this year, and they've been tested against some really good competition. So we are looking forward it, but definitely have to be prepared."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer