Flames fend off Longhorns to complete weekend sweep of reigning SELC, LSA champions

Saturday, March 1

Lynchburg, VA

11:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Texas

Keaton Mohs Liberty Texas men's lacrosse

Graduate attack Keaton Mohs scored a hat trick and distributed three assists against Texas on Saturday afternoon, as he had Friday night against Georgia Tech. (Photos by Ethan Smith)

Flames fend off Longhorns to complete weekend sweep of reigning SELC, LSA champions

3/1/2025 8:12:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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Liberty improved to 4-1 with a 14-12 triumph in its first-ever meeting with Texas, which had rallied past Virginia Tech on Friday night.

Gallery: (3-1-2025) Men's lacrosse vs. Texas

Back-to-back games against defending SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference and Lone Star Alliance conference champions in a span of 16 hours pushed Liberty University's men's lacrosse team to its limits. The reigning ALC champions Flames (4-1) passed their tests with grit and determination, claiming victories over Georgia Tech Friday night and Texas, 14-12, on Saturday morning to afternoon at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

"It's an emotional game for Texas and it was kind of scripted perfectly for us to win this game," said Flames senior middie Will Geary, noting the Longhorns had erased an 10-3 halftime deficit to beat Virginia Tech 13-12 on Friday night in Blacksburg, Va. "There were some rocky moments, but altogether that was a really good team win."

He said Liberty's depth at the midfield position gave them the edge against Texas (3-2), which had its comeback fall just short against the Flames.

"We have the luxury of running nine middies so that creates a lot of rest for us," Geary said. "We don't have to die in the second game. Everyone's well rested so we're able to go back-to-back games. We've got to endure that and face some adversity, but our team is strong enough to be able to do that."

Head Coach Kyle McQuillan was not particularly pleased with Liberty's execution, but he couldn't complain after seeing the Flames sweep two teams that will likely be right behind them in the MCLA Top 20 when that ranking is released for the first time next week.

"Today wasn't necessarily the cleanest, most disciplined game of the year, but I also recognize the fact that with a game last night at 7 and to turn around and play a game at 11 (a.m.) against a team as talented as Texas, we should probably lower our expectations," he said. "Credit to Texas, they had to do the same thing, and they had to do it on the road. We were fortunate to come out with a victory and what I think is going to hopefully prove to be a pretty solid weekend, with wins against two (national) tournament teams. These are great tests for us early and, hopefully, we can use it to build our confidence and continue to move forward."

Liberty outscored Texas 4-3 in the first, second, and fourth quarters, with the Longhorns winning the third, 3-2. Leading 7-6, the Flames slowed the pace for the final minutes of the first half, maintaining possession after graduate faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett won one of his 28 (out of 29) mostly uncontested faceoffs and Geary forced a turnover on a clearing attempt with a body check and a stick check.

With a man advantage, the Flames capitalized on a fast break to extend their lead to 8-6 with 58.3 seconds left in the first half. Keaton Mohs, who had three goals and three assists for the second game in a row, set up fellow graduate attack Braden Landry (4G, 2A, repeating Friday's stat line) with a pass across the box for a deke and point-blank finish in the right crease.

"The transition (game) is really what gave us the victory today," McQuillan said. "We got a lot of goals in transition, pushing the pace. Our settled six-on-six patient offense is what we were lacking today. It just never felt that we could find a rhythm or get into a groove or that flow state."

Landry's late goal gave the Flames momentum to start the second half and eight seconds after another faceoff win by Hammett, freshman middie Ty Broughton stretched the lead to 9-6 with a running bounce shot.

A slashing penalty against Mohs put the Longhorns on a man advantage for one minute and they capitalized to cut the deficit to 9-7 on a snipe by attack Luke Sganga into the top-left corner, beating Flames sophomore goalie Ian Carvajal (eight saves) to end a 10-minute scoring drought at the 4:50 mark.

The Flames struck back 2:02 left in the third quarter when Mohs picked up the rebound of sophomore middie Hunter Rockhill's shot off the right pipe and torpedoed a short-range submarine shot from the right side into the lower netting.

However, Texas responded with 54 seconds left when attack Morry Stein (six goals) rifled a shot from the top of the box that trickled past Carvajal after he got a stick on it, making it a 10-8 contest going into the fourth quarter.

"Credit to Texas," McQuillan said. "Anytime we got some momentum or a bit of a lead, they always kept it close enough to make sure that they were in it, and from the game (at Virginia Tech on Friday night), we understood that no matter what the score was, they were a team that is capable of coming back on anybody."

Hammett, who also picked up 22 ground balls for the game, won the opening faceoff of the fourth quarter and Mohs cashed in with an unassisted running bounce shot from a sharp angle as he approached the left crease. Stein completed his hat trick on a fast-break finish from the left side on a delayed penalty with12:35 remaining in regulation, trimming the deficit to 11-9. The Longhorns then cut it to 11-10 with 20 seconds left on a two-minute man advantage on a rocket of a perimeter shot from the right side by Stein with 10:55 to go.

The Flames were assessed a 30-second penalty, but killed it off before Texas could net the equalizer. Liberty answered on the other end when Landry pulled a ground ball out of a scrum in front and found sophomore middie Easton Cahill for an insurance goal with 6:50 left.

Hammett won a faceoff and slapped a loose ball to junior attack Luke Branham (1G, 1A) after briefly losing possession on a check, before Cahill unleashed a howitzer of a shot from the top of the box into the upper netting, extending Liberty's lead to 13-10 at the 5:59 mark.

"Getting two goals from Easton Cahill, huge goals when we needed them, at very, very important times in the game, gave us that separation and that ability to at least take a breath," McQuillan said.

Left unguarded on the left side, Stein netted his fifth goal with 4:16 to play before Flames sophomore hammer Kason Brehm pressured Texas goalie Jack Monahan into a turnover after a save and Landry picked up the loose ball and fired it into the back of an open net to pad Liberty's lead to 14-11.

Stein's running shot down the left side of the box produced his sixth and final goal with 1:30 remaining in regulation before the Longhorns finished the contest with possession and on a man advantage, but they couldn't close the gap.

Liberty will have the next week and a half off before traveling to Hamilton, Conn., over Spring Break to challenge UConn on March 13 and Northeastern, which defeated Georgia Tech in Atlanta, on March 15.

"We have a long history with Connecticut and they've played spoiler in a lot of our games," so we are not going to take them lightly either," McQuillan said.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer