Flames fend off Tigers’ attack, send out seniors on winning note in home finale

Sunday, April 7

Lynchburg, VA

1:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Clemson University

Flames freshman attack Easton Cahill squeezes between Clemson defenders in a battle for the ball beside senior attack Braden Landry (91) on Sunday afternoon at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Flames fend off Tigers’ attack, send out seniors on winning note in home finale

4/7/2024 5:46:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

In an ALC battle, Liberty outscored Clemson 4-0 in the third quarter and netted the last four goals in the fourth to break open a 5-5 tie at halftime.

Will Geary drives — Flames junior middie Will Geary (3 goals, 1 assist) drives in Sunday's 14-8 triumph.

Playing for the first time in 15 days, Liberty University's No. 6-ranked men's lacrosse team broke open a 5-5 game at halftime by scoring all four goals of the third quarter en route to a 14-8 victory over unranked Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) South Region opponent Clemson on Senior Day, Sunday afternoon at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

The Flames (9-4) let the Tigers (5-7) back in the game in the fourth quarter, trimming the deficit to 10-8, before netting the last four goals unanswered.

"They're much better than their record," Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said of Clemson, which had given No. 2 Virginia Tech a competitive game on Saturday in a 20-15 setback in Blacksburg, Va. "They've got a lot of really good athletes. We just had to make sure that we stopped feeding them, rather than making them earn it.. They were getting all of their production off of our mistakes."

Junior middie Will Geary (3 goals, 1 assist) set up senior middie Keaton Mohs (3G, 1A) as he emerged from behind the right side of the cage before finishing from near the right crease to start the second-half scoring and break the 5-5 tie.

"We were good offensively," McQuillan said. "We were moving the ball and getting the looks that we wanted to, but we weren't finishing, and we were just making too many mistakes."

Sophomore attack Luke Branham (1G, 3 A) then sent a pass from behind the right endline to senior attack Braden Landry (2G, 1A) for a sidearmed rocket of a shot past a defender into the left side of the net, extending Liberty's lead to 7-5 at the 10:49 mark of the third quarter.

"It was just kind of putting everything together and settling down and making sure we were getting our looks, being patient with it, being disciplined," Landry said. "That was the biggest focus."

Exactly five minutes later, Branham came out from behind the left side of the net and fired a turnaround shot from the left side of the box to extend the lead to 8-5 at the 5:49 mark.

"We needed to have a big third quarter," McQuillan said. "We had to set the tempo … because it was an even game. Good thing there were two halves to that lacrosse game because we needed that second half."

Senior goalie Eric Warnstrom made three consecutive saves, holding the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter before giving up three goals in the fourth to finish with nine saves and eight goals allowed.

"Ric didn't have a great first half, with three saves and five goals against," McQuillan said. "To his credit, he came out in the second half and we put him in some better positions, but he responded really well, not only in saves, but moving the ball in transition and giving us some opportunities to score in the break."

Keaton Mohs finishes against Clemson — Senior middie Keaton Mohs (3 goals, 1 assist) beats Clemson goalie Matthew Gallitano.

With Liberty on a man-advantage, Mohs drove toward the left crease and put away a point-blank shot to extend Liberty's lead to 9-5 with just 26.3 seconds left in the third.

Clemson struck first in the fourth quarter when attack Ian Jackson rifled a running shot from the top-left corner of the box into the upper netting to trim the deficit to 9-6.

The Tigers then cut it to two goals by putting away the third shot on the same possession from short range by Drew Stahley off fellow freshman attack Holden Morrison's feed from behind the cage.

Clemson nearly made it a one-goal game with just under 10 minutes left but hit a pipe with a point-blank shot from the left side.

Seconds after Mohs turned the ball over at the left endline, he redeemed himself by putting away a pass from freshman attack Easton Cahill for a point-blank finish in front after a ground-ball pickup by sophomore middie Ben LaPole, stretching the Flames' advantage to 10-7 with 7:57 remaining in regulation.

"We had a really great third quarter from the defense and that helped us build a lead," Landry said. "Our defense played much better in the second half and they were a lot more disciplined as well in getting us the ball. We kind of rotated the attack today, but we all kind of blended well and we were able to put them in when we needed to."

After Clemson made it a 10-8 contest with 6:51 to go, Flames freshman middie Hunter Rockhill assisted Geary as he made a move into the box for a running bounce shot that extended Liberty's lead to 11-8 with 4:01 left.

"Will was very even-keeled and in the moment and when we needed them, he had some big energy goals, especially in the second half," McQuillan said.

Mohs then spotted sophomore attack Luke Campbell cutting into the right side of the box for a quick finish and 12-8 advantage at the 2:41 mark. With the Tigers using a 10-man ride, graduate middie Mark Rolewicz broke out from behind the cage and finished a running shot over a defender into a wide-open net with 1:39 to play before senior defender Bryn Jungles made a fast-break run up the middle of field pass and fed Cahill for a nonchalant behind-the-back finish into the left side of net to cap the scoring with 1:13 to play.

"Easton continues to move up the depth chart, continues to impress and earn more and more opportunities," McQuillan said. "I think he's going to be a big part of our success in the years to come. He's capable of doing some pretty creative things on the field."

Before the game, the Flames honored their nine seniors playing their last games at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

"We have some great team chemistry," Landry said. "A bunch of our captains are seniors and they're very good leaders. We have a lot of experience, especially from the senior captains. They've seen a lot and they've done a lot and they've been really helpful throughout the season."

Overall, McQuillan and the Flames were pleased with the outcome, if not overjoyed with how they played.

"It is a fortunate position to be in where we can be a little bit upset and frustrated with ourselves when we beat a really good team because our expectation and our bar is as high as it is," he said, noting the team used its two weeks of practice time to tighten up its game and sharpen its focus for the home stretch. "I don't know if we got the byproduct that we wanted today, but we live to see another day. Everything we want to accomplish this season is still ahead of us and we put ourselves in a better position to be able to do that. We've got a really big matchup next Sunday (at 1 p.m. at No. 18) JMU which is undefeated in conference. It's for the No. 1 seed in the ALC Tournament, so we don't need a whole lot of motivation going into next weekend."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media

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