Flames fend off Gamecocks with five unanswered goals in 11-7 win, first in S.C.

Sunday, February 23

Columbia, SC

1:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of South Carolina

Graduate faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett wins a faceoff against Virginia Tech in the Flames' season opener on Feb. 8 at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. (Photo by Ryan Anderson)

Flames fend off Gamecocks with five unanswered goals in 11-7 win, first in S.C.

2/23/2025 8:14:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty improved to 2-1 by beating its former SouthEastern Conference rival and will host defending SELC and LSA champions Georgia Tech and Texas, respectively, Friday night and Saturday morning.

Graduate faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett won 17 of 20 draws to give Liberty University's men's lacrosse team the possessions it needed to pull away from the University of South Carolina 11-7 on Sunday afternoon.

"Having him at that position gave us a huge advantage, especially in that fourth quarter, when he gave us the ball for some pivotal possessions," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "He continues to be exactly as advertised and a huge part of the success we've had so far this season."

The Flames (2-1) scored the last five goals of the fourth quarter to secure their first over the Gamecocks (1-5) — their former SELC rivals who have won two MCLA Division I national championships in the past six seasons — in the state of South Carolina.

Since USC's grass field in Columbia, S.C., was saturated from recent storms, the Gamecocks hosted the Flames on River Bluff High School 's turf field in Lexington, S.C., a 15-minute drive from campus.

McQuillan noted that all five of the teams that have defeated the Gamecocks could legitimately be in the top 10 when the MCLA releases its first rankings of the season in early March.

"It is still early, but I don't think their record is a great indication of how good a team they are," he said. "They have had one of the toughest schedules in the country. Their head coach runs a pretty tight ship, and he will have them in position to be a threat at the end of the season."

Liberty led 5-3 at halftime and stretched it to 6-3 at the start of the third quarter before the Gamecocks tied it at 6 by the end of the third and seized a 7-6 lead at the start of the fourth.

"Going into halftime with a 5-3 lead, we were optimistic that our offense would get rolling and gain some momentum, but we came out flat and lost the third quarter," McQuillan said. "All credit to South Carolina for keeping it close and taking the lead late in the game before we had a strong effort in the fourth quarter to eventually pull away."

He said sophomore goalie Ian Carvajal (seven saves) kept the Flames in contention before they were able to establish control late in the game.

"There were some really big saves by both goalies in the fourth quarter," McQuillan said. "We challenged Ian to step up and have a performance we know he is capable of and today he was able to do that. He has made some pretty significant strides, and made some pretty critical saves, especially late in the game, that allowed us to pull away."

Carvajal came out of the cage on occasion to pressure the Gamecocks' attackmen, forcing them out of their rhythm on offense.

"We were in a 10-man ride for the entire game and that was tough and exhausting, but especially in that fourth quarter it was effective in creating turnovers," McQuillan said. "Then, having a dominant faceoff guy, we were able to capitalize and turn opportunities into points."

The Flames were again effective in running their transition game, with defensive middie Ty Broughton and long stick middie Graham Lilly both scoring goals after successfully moving the ball out of the defensive end. Broughton made a defensive stand before clearing the ball upfield and working a give-and-go with graduate attack Keaton Mohs (2 goals, 4 assists) for the first goal of the second half.

"One thing that has been pretty consistent has been our ability to ride and push the ball in transition," McQuillan said. "(Sophomore defender) Peyton Park also had a tremendous defensive takeaway and pushed it downfield before USC's goalie made a tremendous save. To get two or three goals a game from our LSMs and hammers is hopefully a trend that will continue throughout the year. It just gives another layer to the way we can score. We have a tremendously talented offensive group, but when you're able to get goals in transition, they're bonuses and our guys have done well in creating those opportunities for us."

Junior attack Luke Branham paced the offense with three goals while sophomore middie Hunter Rockhill added one goal and two assists, and graduate attack Braden Landry notched one goal and one assist. Senior middie Will Geary and junior attack Luke Campbell both scored one goal.

One area of concern for McQuillan was the 28 turnovers committed by the Flames, with the only consolation being that Liberty forced exactly that many by the Gamecocks.

"To say that 28 turnovers is more than what we feel is acceptable is an understatement," he said. "It is rare for our team to have that many turnovers in a game, and it is unacceptable. The only thing that helped is that USC made 28 as well. It was a sloppy game going both ways. We were not taking care of the ball and valuing the possessions and capitalizing on them the way that we know we should be."

McQuillan is happy to have a winning record for the first time this season, but knows that if they are going to stay above the .500 mark they will need to recalibrate their systems.

"It is early in the season, but we definitely have a lot to improve on this week in practice before a tough weekend coming up with games against Georgia Tech and Texas, with an incredibly quick turnaround," McQuillan said.

The Flames will host the Yellow Jackets on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Longhorns Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. Both are defending champions of their respective conferences, the SELC and Lone Star Alliance, and will play Virginia Tech, Liberty's top rival in the ALC, on opposite days.

"We have tried for years to get them to Lynchburg, so it is a great opportunity for us," McQuillan said of Georgia Tech, which defeated South Carolina 13-6 on Friday. "We are hoping to gain an advantage by getting them at home. On paper we match up well. They are a very solid team … and I anticipate it will be a very close game. To play Georgia Tech and Texas back to back, and get two really big-name staples of the MCLA to come to Lynchburg on the same weekend, will be a great challenge."

"There is still a lot we need to continue to work on if we want to defend our ALC tournament championship and push past the MCLA semifinals," he added. "It is a long season, but we definitely can't take the foot off the pedal and we've got to make the most of this opportunity to get better."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer