Flames’ attack preys on Panthers in 16-2 ALC North Division slaying

Friday, March 8

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Pittsburgh

Flames defender Brynn Jungles celebrates his first-quarter score after a full-field clearing run against Pittsburgh. (Photos by Ted Allen)

Flames’ attack preys on Panthers in 16-2 ALC North Division slaying

3/8/2024 11:36:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty opened a 5-0 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 10-1 by halftime before outscoring Pittsburgh 6-1 in the second half.

Liberty University's No. 7-ranked men's lacrosse team executed its offense efficiently and pounced on Pittsburgh early in Friday night's 16-2 triumph over its Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) North Division foe at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

"I didn't necessarily anticipate as dominant a performance tonight, but we'll take it," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "It was a good night with lots of goals and some pretty phenomenal individual performances."

That included four-goal nights by sophomore attack Luke Campbell and senior middie Keaton Mohs, who eclipsed the 100-goal mark of his Flames career, and three from senior attack Braden Landry.

"Luke had a great game, kind of a coming-out party for him," McQuillan said. "One of the best things from today's game was the ability to get into transition and get points on transition early in the game. That was big for us because it just set the tempo, it was exciting, and it brought a lot of energy to the game, which was fun."

After Landry started the scoring by ripping a left-handed shot from the right side of the box off an assist from junior middie Evan Shock just 2:23 after the opening faceoff, sophomore defender Brynn Jungles made a spectacular full-field driving clear and running bounce shot into the top-left corner of cage for a 2-0 lead at the 10:51 mark.

Junior middie Will Geary was knocked down on the perimeter, but held onto the ball and got back up before driving into the top of the box and dishing it to Campbell in the left side where he beat Pitt's goalie with a shot while falling down with 9:30 to play in the quarter.

Just 40 seconds later, Landry received a pass across the box from sophomore attack Luke Branham and launched a missile of a shot from outside on the left wing for a 4-0 advantage.

After three near misses on a fast break, Mohs picked up a ground ball rebound, pivoted left and finished unassisted to cap the first-quarter scoring at 5-0.

Mohs netted three of the Flames' first four goals in the second period, first emerging from behind the left post and finishing a jumping shot in left of crease to make it 6-0.

After a penalty against the Panthers, Landry capitalized on the man-up opportunity by putting away a pass from Mohs from a sharp angle before Mohs sandwiched two more scores around the first goal by Pitt, capped by a spinning move and spectacular finish for his 100th goal, extending the lead to 9-1.

Campbell concluded the first-half scoring at 10-1 by coming out from behind the left side of the cage and threading a turnaround shot between the goalie and the left post just 1:28 before halftime.

He continued his run and capped off a natural hat trick by scoring the first two goals of the third quarter, the first off a feed from freshman Easton Cahill and second after sprinting from right to left behind the goal and finishing with a wraparound shot to make it 12-1.

Geary and Cahill put away assists from sophomore middle Peyton Doyle and Branham, respectively, before Branham scored after a spin move and junior middie Ezra Anderson capped the scoring with a perimeter shot from the right side with 28 seconds to play.

Sophomore midfielder Shane Supek won 17 of 21 faceoffs and picked up 10 ground balls and senior goalie Erick Warnstrom made eight saves before giving opportunity for sophomore Camden Harriman (4 saves) and freshman Ian Carvajal (3 saves) to play the third and fourth quarters.

"All of our goalies played really well with some big, key saves," McQuillan said. "Holding a team like Pitt to two goals is an accomplishment for our defense. We checked a lot of boxes tonight, did a lot of things well. This was a great boost for confidence. We're exactly halfway through the regular season now and this was a good game to end the first half on. These games are super important. With three wins over ALC North opponents, we're at least assured a playoff berth.

Liberty will wrap up its four-game home stand by hosting ALC South opponent North Carolina State on Sunday at noon before traveling to Florida over Spring Break to play No. 4 BYU on Thursday at 8 p.m. and the No. 11 Gators on Friday at 8 p.m.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer