Flames snuffed by Hokies in season opener at Liberty Lacrosse Fields

Saturday, February 8

Lynchburg, VA

3:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Virginia Tech

Sophomore goalie Ian Carvajal played throughout the first half against the Hokies in the Flames' season opener at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Flames snuffed by Hokies in season opener at Liberty Lacrosse Fields

2/8/2025 11:38:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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Liberty lost the rematch of an overtime triumph in a fall semester scrimmage against Virginia Tech also played in Lynchburg.

Gallery: (2-8-2025) Liberty vs. Virginia Tech men's lacrosse

On a cold and somber day tempered by celebration of the past and optimism for the future, Liberty University's men's lacrosse team opened its 2025 season with a 16-12 loss to Atlantic Lacrosse Conference rival Virginia Tech, Saturday afternoon at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

Before the opening faceoff, several Flames alumni and a few family members took part in a ceremony honoring former defender Tom Girani — a part of the Class of 2016 that never lost a home game (24-0) in four years at Liberty — who died this past fall. Liberty also held a ring presentation for current players and alumni members of last season's team that earned their second ALC Tournament Championship in four seasons, defeating Virginia Tech in the semifinal and Tennessee in the final at City Stadium in Lynchburg, Va.

"Obviously you'd love to back that up with a victory on the field (against the Hokies on Saturday), but it's still important for us to do those things … to be able to recognize Tom and not take anything away from the success of last season," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said.

Symbolically, with the flamethrowers beyond the south end goal not functioning properly to ignite in celebration of every Liberty goal, the Flames' offense never really caught fire against the Hokies, who jumped out to an early 4-1 lead.

"We tied it up a handful of times, but every time we responded, they responded right back, so a ton of credit to them for never giving us momentum, never letting us get on a run," McQuillan said. "They played a phenomenal game, especially in that first half. Virginia Tech had some pretty spectacular shots and was just placing the ball extremely well. I was very impressed. They played a great game, exactly the way they needed to be able to get the victory and they definitely deserved it today."

Graduate attack Keaton Mohs distributed the first of his game-high six assists with 2:27 left in the first quarter, setting up junior long-stick midfielder Ty Broughton for a turnaround shot in the top-left side of the box to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Sophomore middie Hunter Rockhill's running left-handed shot from the left side beat Virginia Tech's goalie inside the right post 41 seconds later to trim it to 4-3 before graduate attack Braden Landry (4 goals) received Mohs' feed from behind the cage and tied it at 4 with a high-percentage finish.

"Today, we had a lot of good looks and there were a bunch of other ones that if we were a little bit sharper, we probably could have had those as well," Landry said. "For the first game of the season, you kind of have to knock the rust off and I think we'll be a lot better."

Early in the second quarter, sophomore middie Kason Brehm capped tic-tac-toe passing around the cage by threading a point-blank finish from deep in the left crease, lifting Liberty to its only lead of the game, 5-4.

However, Hokies senior middie Alex Ashley, who started the scoring, tied it at 5 two minutes later with a running shot that beat Flames sophomore goalie Ian Carvajal through the five hole. Then, with 10:01 left in the first half, Virginia Tech mounted a counterattack and Preston Harrington sent a pass out of the right corner to Lucas Bort, who was cutting toward the crease for a running finish that boosted the Hokies to a 6-5 lead.

The Flames answered on a man advantage after Rockhill was upended at the top of the box when Mohs found Landry in the right side of the box for an uppercut finish from 30 feet out, knotting the game at 6 at the 8:25 mark.

But Virginia Tech scored early on its two-man advantage before Flames senior middie Will Geary received a feed from Mohs and put away a bouncing shot from the top of the box.

Hokies senior middie Kyle Dickson's running shot from the left side skipped past Carvajal for an 8-7 lead at the 4:36 mark before Liberty freshman middie Josiah Hoopman responded by sneaking a running shot from short range down the right side of the box, tying it at 8 with 4:13 left in the first half. Austin Ashley's running shot from the top of box beat Carvajal high, giving the Hokies a 9-8 lead going into halftime.

Freshman Sam Hoffman replaced Carvajal (4 saves) in goal in the second half and gave up seven goals while making seven saves.

Landry sparked the Flames' attack in the opening minute of the second half by receiving Mohs' pass from behind the cage and making a spinning move along the endline before finishing with a spectacular dive into the crease, tying it at 9.

However, Ashley countered with a sharp-angled shot down the right side of box at the 10:45 mark. Graduate faceoff specialist Caleb Hamlett, who had the upper hand on 25 of 31 draws in his debut for the Flames, won the ensuing faceoff and drove it half field for a running bounce shot that tied it at 10 just seven seconds later.

"Caleb at the faceoff dot gave us a ton of opportunities and possessions, but we just were never able to get the lead," McQuillan said.

Aidan O'Sullivan's running shot across the top of the box skipped past Hoffman to put the Hokies ahead to stay, 11-10, with 9:17 left in the third quarter. Virginia Tech added another score to take a 12-10 advantage into the fourth quarter, when Ashley struck again with a spinning move and finish on the right side.

Liberty sophomore middie Easton Cahill sent a pass to Mohs who assisted Landry on a fantastic alley-oop-type pass across the goal mouth and one-timed finish to trim the deficit to 13-11 with 10:06 to play. Then,Cahill ripped a perimeter shot from the right into the upper netting to make it a 13-12 contest with 9:38 to play. But the Hokies salted the win away with three unanswered goals down the stretch.

"It's a tough way to start our season, but from a coach's perspective, it's a lot easier to coach a team that just came off of a loss than the inflated egos that sometimes come with a big win," McQuillan said. "We get a little dose of humble pie early in the season and we get to get back to practice next week and address some glaring issues and weaknesses that obviously showed themselves today. Hopefully, this is an early-season wakeup call. Everything we want to accomplish is still ahead of us and we're going to continue to move in that direction."

Hoopman, one of 10 Liberty goal scorers, said the loss in his Flames debut was disappointing, but it can be used as a springboard for the rest of the semester.

"It's going to be a good start for our season to probably play one of our toughest games right away," Hoopman said. "It's going to build some character and keep our awareness up of where we are. We've got to keep getting better and … have a short memory and keep focusing on the next game."

The Flames will return to action next Saturday at 1 p.m. against ALC South Region opponent North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.

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