Men’s lacrosse, ranked second in ALC preseason poll, finalizes spring schedule

Saturday, February 7

Lynchburg, VA

6:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

NC State University

Luke Branham Liberty Virginia Tech men's lacrosse

Senior attack Luke Branham drives past a Virginia Tech defender in the Oct. 23 Fall semester scrimmage won by the Hokies, 11-10, at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Men’s lacrosse, ranked second in ALC preseason poll, finalizes spring schedule

11/12/2025 5:09:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty, the defending MCLA Division I champion, will play seven home and seven away games before hosting the ALC Tournament, seeking its eighth straight bid to the May 4-9 national championships near Richmond.

Gallery: (11-12-2025) Men's lacrosse scrimmage vs. Va. Tech

As reigning MCLA Division I national champions, Liberty University's men's lacrosse team realizes the road back to the Final Four for the fourth consecutive season won't be easy.

The Flames, who defeated Tennessee in the final at Lynchburg City Stadium to claim their third Atlantic Lacrosse Conference Tournament title in five seasons, are projected to finish second to the Volunteers in that conference race this spring.

"The ultimate reality for us is we graduated some pretty prominent players at key positions," Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "Wherever (the MCLA) decides to put us in the preseason poll (to be released in January) won't change the fact that we won the national title last season. This season is a new year, and we're going to have to prove ourselves all over again. It is up to us to keep stride and have the level of success we've been able to have the past few years. That will be our challenge this spring."

Since the ALC lost Pittsburgh and Temple from its Division I membership (both programs shifted to the Continental Lacrosse Conference), the remaining nine teams will not be divided into two regions next season. Instead, they will all play one another, accounting for more than half of their respective regular-season schedules.

"That removes a lot of our flexibility in terms of scheduling games against opponents outside of our conference," McQuillan said. "Overall, we're really happy with our schedule."

The Flames have scheduled non-conference clashes with Michigan State (Feb. 20), Connecticut (Feb. 21), South Carolina (Feb. 28), Florida State (March 7) at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields, and BYU (March 20) and Auburn (March 21) in Knoxville, Tenn., after challenging the host Volunteers on March 18 over Spring Break.

"We have a heavy East Coast schedule this year," McQuillan said, noting the 2024 champion Cougars are the only team West of Auburn the Flames will face this season, albeit at Tennessee. "We tried to put something together that simulates a national tournament type of schedule, and we'll be able to do that in Knoxville, where we will play three games in a four-day period."

After returning from Tennessee, Liberty will host ALC opponent West Virginia in its Midnight Mayhem matchup on March 27.

"That will be a lot of fun," McQuillan said. "WVU has always been on the heels of getting into the ALC tournament (semifinals) and breaking into the (MCLA) national tournament conversation, and we are excited to host them as a new opponent."

The Flames will conclude their regular season with four more conference games — at home against Clemson on March 27 and at Virginia Tech (April 2), JMU (April 12), and Kentucky (April 18) — before hosting the ALC Tournament at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields for the first time since beating Clemson in the final of the inaugural event in 2021.

"On paper, it is hard to argue this is as strong of a schedule as last year, when we were pretty fortunate to play a handful of teams in the top five, and what we've had in years past, but there are still a lot of great teams on here, with five teams in top 25," McQuillan said, noting BYU ended the 2025 season ranked No. 4 followed by No. 9 Florida State, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 16 Virginia Tech, and No. 17 South Carolina. "I'm sure there will be teams on our schedule that are currently unranked that will be ranked during the season."

The top four teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the ALC Tournament semifinals set for Friday night, April 24, with the final set for Saturday night, April 25.

"We wanted to be able to put all of our games in the prime-time spot, to hopefully be able to get more viewers to watch our games," McQuillan said. "Ultimately, we are focused on elevating and continuing to promote the ALC, to be, in my opinion, the best conference within the MCLA. We will be able to host an ALC tournament at Liberty and stream all our games on ESPN+, which is the biggest selling feature for our conference."

The winner of that tournament, plus teams receiving at-large bids, will advance to the May 4-9 MCLA National Championships hosted for the first time by the River City Sportsplex in Chesterfield, Va., a suburb of Richmond.

"Logistically, it is definitely a huge benefit to have a national tournament in our backyard," McQuillan said, noting it has been staged in Denver, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Round Rock, Texas, in recent years, with Greenville, S.C., being the last East Coast city to host it. "Geographically, we're the closest team to the site of the national tournament. There are definitely a lot of things in our favor for this season. We just look at them as great opportunities for us, and we hope to be able to capitalize on them."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer