No. 8 Flames surge past No. 2 Wolverines with spirited comeback, setting up showdown with Chapman

Thursday, March 21

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Utah Valley University

Flames freshman attack Easton Cahill drives the ball past Utah Valley freshman defender Max Ramey in Thursday night's contest. (Photos by Ted Allen)

No. 8 Flames surge past No. 2 Wolverines with spirited comeback, setting up showdown with Chapman

3/21/2024 10:50:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty rallied from an early 7-2 deficit to draw within 8-6 at halftime and take three leads down the stretch before netting the game winner with 10.8 seconds to play.

Gallery: (3-21-2024) Men's lacrosse vs. Utah Valley

Battling undefeated Utah Valley, which moved up to No. 2 in this week's MCLA Coaches Poll, Liberty University's No. 8-ranked men's lacrosse team showed tremendous resilience and plenty of pushback on Thursday night at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields, rallying from five goals down with nine minutes left in the first half for a 14-13 triumph and its first major upset of the season.

"We knew we'd start rolling eventually," said sophomore middie Shane Supek, who won 12 of 27 faceoffs but got stronger as the game went on. "We just had to keep going at it and we never let up and we were able to pull it out. No one gave up; no one started pointing fingers. We just kept at it and together we pulled it out. That was the key. It was a great game."

After the Wolverines (6-1) opened a 7-2 lead just over six minutes into the second quarter, the Flames' attack ignited and rallied to cut the gap to 8-6 by the end of the first half.

"We were blitzed really early, and that's the type of game that they try to play, fast-paced," Liberty Assistant Coach Mike Zumpano said. "We had our work cut out for us, but we kind of settled down and said, 'OK, if we can get the defense just to settle down and get a couple of stops, let's work to get it within two (goals by halftime). We were able to manage the momentum swings a lot better than we have in the last couple weeks. Hopefully, we've learned something."

Senior attack Braden Landry (3 goals, 2 assists) scored early and late for Liberty (8-3), netting its first goal off an assist from freshman Hunter Rockhill to tie it at 1-1 and later finishing a feed from junior middie Will Geary (2G, 1A) to level the score at 11-11 with 1.1 seconds to play in the third quarter. In between those two scores, Landry cut into the left of the box and received a feed from senior middie Keaton Mohs (1G, 2A) from behind the net before finishing in the left crease to tie the contest at 9 with 11:19 left in the third quarter.

The Flames seized their first lead with 10:06 to go in the fourth on a second goal by freshman attack Easton Cahill, on a third try after Mohs hit a post from the right side and sophomore middle Luke Campbell had his rebound shot from the left blocked by the arm of UV goalie Max Sturgill.

Utah Valley answered with the equalizer at the 4:40 mark on a goal by senior middie Nathan Huntsman before Rockhill (1G, 3A) received a short feed from Mohs and threaded a sharp-angled shot from the right side past Sturgill to make it a 13-12 contest with 1:45 remaining in regulation.

"Inevitably, in games like this, you need some production outside of your top scorers," Zumpano said. "Hunter Rockhill had a great goal to take the lead late in the game and we got production from nine players scoring today."

The Wolverines re-tied it at 13 with a man-advantage on a shot by junior middie Ashton Matheny with 22.5 seconds to go, but after the ensuing faceoff, Flames freshman middie Jayson Houck picked up a ground ball turnover on the defensive side of the field and made a half-field run before finishing with the game winner with 10.8 seconds to play.

"He is a player who has been one of the most improved all season," Zumpano said of Houck, who transferred in from a junior college where he didn't even play lacrosse last year. "We found a spot for him on the defensive middle line and his studying, his work ethic, his progression in practice led to moments like he had tonight. That goal was the culmination of really a great game he played all around. He played really good defense, worked a lot of ground balls in our favor, and he's an athlete that we need to have on the field and we're thrilled with the way he played tonight."

The game was a rematch of the 2021 MCLA Invitational consolation game in which the Flames overcame an 11-3 halftime deficit to win 14-13 in Round Rock, Texas.

"There was a little more at stake (tonight) and it was a testament to the guys' lack of quit, their willingness to fight especially on our home field," Zumpano said.

Late in the first half, Geary responded to a Wolverines attack by rifling a shot from left side past Sturgill off an assist from Rockhill with 3:22 remaining before sophomore attack Luke Branham (2G) trimmed the gap to 8-6 on a running shot down the right side of the box with 2:42 to go. Senior goalie Eric Warnstrom (17 saves) prevented the Wolverines from padding their lead with spectacular back-to-back stops in the closing seconds of the first half.

"That was a huge part of this game," Zumpano said. "He wasn't probably seeing their shots very well tonight early in the game … but ultimately, he showed up. Part of that was our defense shoring up a little bit, giving him more shots that he could see, and our performance on the defensive end in deflecting shots and making them shoot differently was a big factor."

The victory sets the Flames up well for Saturday's showdown with No. 5 Chapman (6-1), which slipped from the No. 1 spot after dropping its first game to the Wolverines.

"We're going to have our work cut out for us against Chapman, but we're thrilled to get out of here with a win tonight," Zumpano said.

"We feel good," added Supek, one of three players on the team studying in the School of Aeronautics who collaborated on a video promo for Saturday night's game, which will have a "Top Gun" theme with specially made T-shirts for sale. "We feel like we're finding our groove and we're just going to leave it all on the field. We're excited for Saturday. That would be awesome to win that one, too, and climb up the ranks."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Andrew Musser/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant