Men’s lacrosse jumps on JMU early, clinches No. 1 seed in ALC North Region

Sunday, April 14

Harrisonburg, VA

1:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

James Madison University

Liberty freshman midfielder Jayson Houck (92) pursues a faceoff beside senior teammate Stephen Westlake (48) on Sunday at JMU. (Photos by Andrew Musser)

Men’s lacrosse jumps on JMU early, clinches No. 1 seed in ALC North Region

4/14/2024 6:13:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

The Flames opened 5-0 lead on the Dukes after the first five minutes and Keaton Mohs surpassed 200 points to move into fifth place on Liberty’s all-time scoring list.

Gallery: (4-14-2024) Men's lacrosse at JMU

With first place in the Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) North Region on the line, Liberty University's No. 6-ranked men's lacrosse team raced out to a 5-0 lead after the first five minutes and capped its regular season with a convincing 16-7 victory over James Madison University on Sunday in Harrisonburg, Va.

"It was definitely a game that, from our perspective, went a lot more to script than most of our games this year," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "It was great to play a game like that and have the level of success we had today. I was proud of the way we played and how we won, and it leaves us feeling good about ourselves going into the playoffs. The best part of today was locking up that No. 1 seed in the North Region and getting a bye through next weekend's (ALC Tournament) quarterfinals. Hopefully, we can continue to build on this win and carry that momentum into the postseason."

JMU (9-2) had won nine games in a row since opening its season with an 18-10 loss at Virginia Tech. It moved up three spots to No. 15 in this past week's MCLA Coaches Poll.

Freshman middie Jayson Houck, who has filled in for sophomore middie Shane Supek in taking faceoffs since Supek went down with an injury mid-season, won the opening draw and sent a quick pass to senior middie Keaton Mohs. He spotted Braden Landry at the back pipe for the first of his five assists of the game, setting up the first of Landry's five goals on the afternoon.

"We got out to a fast and quick start today, scoring in the first 10 seconds," McQuillan said. "Landry was our player of the game, for battling through a hip pointer and totaling five goals and two assists. He was a playmaker, sitting in on the crease, and he played great. It was a gritty performance for him considering he was playing through some pain from the injury he's dealing with."

Houck won 12 of 22 faceoffs, helping to keep the Flames on attack for much of the afternoon.

"Jayson has been a grinder and has epitomized that next-man-up mentality," McQuillan said. "He had almost no familiarity with the faceoff position before this season, but he's a really good athlete and if he spent enough time, we thought he would be a really good faceoff guy. He's done a tremendous job in holding that position down for us."

With his eight-point game (3G, 5A), Mohs eclipsed the 200-point mark for his career and moved past Carter Elliott into fifth place on the Flames' all-time scoring list with 204 points. With one more season of eligibility, Mohs now trails only Assistant Coach Ryan Miller, Sam Gregory, Kurt Tobias, and Caleb Britton.

"Keaton Mohs had a fantastic game," McQuillan said. "That was a really good performance from him. Overall, it was definitely our most complete game from top to bottom. Our guys had very clean ball-handling and possession, and their passes looked more crisp than they have been in previous games."

Senior Eric Warnstrom and freshman Ian Carvajal divided goalie duties and both made four saves with Warnstrom allowing six of the Dukes' seven goals.

McQuillan is hopeful the Flames will move into the top five in next week's MCLA national rankings and be in the top four after the ALC Tournament, which would give them a more direct path to their first national championship final at the May 6-11 MCLA National Championships in Round Rock, Texas.

"We'll see what happens," he said, noting the next poll will come out on Wednesday. "Right ahead of us at No. 5 is Utah Valley, a team that we beat and that dropped a couple games in Colorado over the weekend. So there is definitely an opportunity for us to move up in the rankings. Our goal is to finish in the top four, and if we take care of business and win the ALC Tournament, that will put us in a much better position at nationals. We may need a couple more wins first."

Liberty could have a more difficult route to its second ALC Tournament title in four years after No. 2-ranked Virginia Tech (12-2) — which has won the past two tournament championships — lost to No. 17 Tennessee (10-1, by a 13-12 final), giving the Volunteers the No. 1 seed in the ALC South. That means, the Flames will have to play the winner between Saturday's showdown Virginia Tech and Clemson in Saturday's semifinals at Lynchburg's City Stadium.

"It was definitely not what we anticipated," McQuillan said. "We were thinking Virginia Tech would win that game and hopefully put us in position to see them again in the tournament final. There were a lot of upsets in the MCLA this weekend, and we were just happy to not be a part of that group. You don't want to limp into the playoffs."

JMU will host West Virginia, the No. 3 seed in the ALC North, to determine which will face Tennessee in the other semifinal.

McQuillan said the Flames look forward to a potential rematch with the Hokies, who rallied late to beat them in the ALC tournament final in double overtime last season in Lynchburg.

"Hopefully, we will get that ALC championship trophy back after we won it the first year," he said. "We know how good (the Hokies) are. The ALC continues to grow and Tennessee deserves a ton of credit for knocking them off. They were very solid. Its not just Liberty and Virginia Tech in a two-team battle for the conference title. There are a lot of teams that are showing improvement and that will be fighting for a conference championship in a couple of weeks. For now, we get a well-deserved rest, a time of recovery and recouperation, and get to sit back and wait and find out who our opponent is going to be."

Supek will get his cast off his foot next week and could potentially return in time for nationals.

"Nobody's healthy at this point in the season, and we've got some bumps and bruises, but we're in pretty good shape," McQuillan said.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

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