Men’s lacrosse manhandled by No. 2-ranked Cougars for third straight setback

Friday, March 20

Knoxville, TN

2:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Brigham Young University

Liberty players battle against BYU, which has better position to pick up a ground ball near midfield in the Cougars' 25-12 triumph, Friday afternoon at the University of Tennessee. (Photo by Anna Wheat)

Men’s lacrosse manhandled by No. 2-ranked Cougars for third straight setback

3/20/2026 8:32:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

No. 7 Liberty (4-3) hopes to salvage its spring break trip to Tennessee with a win over SEC foe Auburn (4-4) Saturday at noon.

In the second game of a spring break showcase, Liberty University's No. 7-ranked men's lacrosse team was dealt its third-most decisive defeat in program history, falling to No. 2 BYU, 25-12, on Thursday afternoon at the University of Tennessee.

The setback comes less than two weeks after the Flames' second-most lopsided loss, a 22-8 flogging against Florida State University on March 8 at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

Last May, Liberty defeated the Cougars in the MCLA Division I semifinals in Round Rock, Texas, before rolling to its first national championship with a 19-1 record. Previously, BYU ousted the Flames from the Final Four by a 20-12 score en route to winning its sixth national title and finishing 19-0. That was one year after Concordia (Calif.) University, a transitional NCAA Division I program, handed Liberty its worst defeat, 25-10, spoiling the Flames' first national semifinals appearance.

"BYU is ranked No. 2 in the country and is undefeated for a reason, and they proved that today," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "(The Cougars) just manhandled us in terms of time of possession and the amount of offensive opportunities they had. They put themselves in position to score 25 goals because they did a much better job of getting the ball to their offensive unit. Our 10-man ride did not produce the results that we wanted today, and they robbed us of any momentum and confidence to stay in the game."

After hanging with BYU (9-0) in the first quarter, trailing only 6-4, things went sideways quickly for Liberty (4-3) in the second, when it was outscored 10-2.

"The second quarter was pretty brutal," McQuillan said. "When you allow a team to go into halftime with a 16-5 lead, that's pretty difficult to come out in the second half and try to rally back from."
Liberty senior faceoff specialist Shane Supek won 13 of his 25 faceoffs, but the Cougars often sparked their attack by swiping the ball away soon after the Flames gained possession.

"BYU did a phenomenal job of swarming us after the faceoffs," McQuillan said. "We ran into a lot of double teams, which led to turnovers. We were playing very individualistically, not playing to our wings, and BYU was winning the ground ball battles."

He said the Cougars showcased the type of approach the Flames need to apply to their own transitional game.

"They communicated well, played as a team, and worked together, whereas we were trying to go in there and pick up the ball ourselves and do things solo," McQuillan said. "You can't win lacrosse games if you don't get the ball to your offense, and we didn't get enough possessions. It was not just on our faceoff guys, but on our wingmen, and on the 10-man ride. There are a lot of ways to get the ball to our offense, and we didn't do well in any of them today."

Junior goalie Ian Carvajal allowed 17 goals, making only 8 saves (32 percent) before being replaced by sophomore transfer Jake Hanna (6 saves, 8 goals allowed).

"Ian was put in a tough spot playing as much defense as we were playing," McQuillan said. "We did not generate a lot of opportunities on transition, which come from creating turnovers or the goalie getting the ball and starting a fast break. Most of the time, the ball was not ending up in his stick but in the back of the net."

Offensively, sophomore middie Josiah Hoopman scored three goals to spark Liberty, while freshman attack Branson Isaacs (2 goals, 1 assist), senior attack Luke Branham (1G, 2A), junior middies Harris Shook (2G) and Hunter Rockhill (2A), graduate middie Ezra Anderson (1G, 1A), freshman long-stick midfielder Isaiah Bainbridge (1G), freshman attack Taydan Williams (1G), and Supek (1A) accounted for the rest of the scoring.

The Flames dropped their third game in a row for the first time since 2022, when they ended the regular season with back-to-back-to-back losses to BYU (12-11), Virginia Tech (8-5), and Clemson (12-11).

"This year, experience and confidence are two things that we don't have as much of, that we need," McQuillan said. "The reality is that we have 18 freshmen on the roster. We didn't scale back our schedule and are learning the hard way what it takes to compete at the top end of the MCLA."

He said BYU, which raised national trophies in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2021, and 2024, is the model of consistency in the MCLA. The Cougars (9-0) have returned to dominance this season, outscoring opponents by a 203-82 margin.

"We've been pretty good at being consistent year-in and year-out, but not to that degree," McQuillan said. "BYU has obviously brought a lot of guys back from last year. (No. 1) Utah Valley and BYU are the top two teams in the country by a decent margin."

The Cougars had plenty of incentive after being ousted by the Flames at nationals last year.

"BYU had a lot of motivation today," McQuillan said. "As a coach, the first team you want to schedule is the one that ended your last season. They're a good team with a pretty prolific offense. If we want to compete for a national championship, those are the type of teams we need to be able to run with."

He said the Flames' 11-8 triumph over South Carolina (8-1), now the No. 3 team in the MCLA poll, "proves we can play at that level and at that pace and have success against one of the best teams in the country."

"Unfortunately, we haven't had a game this season where we feel we've put all the pieces together," McQuillan said. "Our recent losses are exposing some things that we need to address, and address quickly, if we're going to contend for a national championship. It's still early in the year, and we're not going to waste the failing, but hopefully use this as an opportunity to improve."

"I still have a lot of optimism in terms of what this team is capable of," he added. "The story of the season so far is unmet expectations. We are trying to figure out who we are and who we want to be. We are still in the driver's seat for ALC postseason play and earning an automatic bid to the national tournament."

Liberty will look to snap its losing skid when it plays Auburn in Saturday's third and final round of the showcase, with the first faceoff set for noon. At the same time on an adjacent field, BYU will take on No. 6 host Tennessee (11-1), Liberty's top ALC rival which topped it 15-10 on Wednesday.

"We've still got one game on this trip, and we are thankful for that," McQuillan said. "Coming away with a win if we can get it will help stop the bleeding."

The Tigers (4-4) are ranked just outside of the MCLA Top 20 but have already dealt No. 5 Florida State (8-2) one of its two losses.

"Auburn, which plays in the SEC, is a bit of a trap game, a sleeper," McQuillan said. "They are probably a little underrated team. So, the good news is we get a chance to get a victory after a couple of bad losses. The bad news is that Auburn is a very formidable opponent, and we have to be very prepared. I am optimistic our guys are going to be able to rally and finish their spring break road trip on a winning note."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer