Flames set for rematch with Hokies in Friday’s ALC Tournament semifinal

Saturday, April 25

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

ALC Playoffs

Freshman attack Branson Isaacs keeps the ball away from a South Carolina player during Liberty's 11-8 triumph over the Gamecocks on Feb. 28 at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. (Photo by Emily Cuthrell)

Flames set for rematch with Hokies in Friday’s ALC Tournament semifinal

4/24/2026 1:33:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Liberty faces a must-win scenario in order to have a chance to claim its third straight title and reach the MCLA DI tournament for the seventh time in a row.

Despite being the reigning MCLA Division I national champion, Liberty University's men's lacrosse team is a decided underdog in this weekend's Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Division I Tournament at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

As the fourth and final seed in the tournament, tied at No. 20 for the final spot in the MCLA Coaches Poll, the Flames (7-6) hope to make the most of their home-field advantage when they meets top-seeded, No. 3-ranked Virginia Tech (11-1) in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal streamed live on ESPN+. Advance tickets for the tournament are available online.

Liberty has won three of the five ALC Tournament championships since the formation of the conference in 2021, starting with an upset of Clemson at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields. The Flames can become the first team to win three in a row with a win over the Hokies — who captured back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 at Lynchburg's City Stadium — followed by a victory over the winner of Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal between No. 5-ranked Tennessee and No. 9 Clemson in Saturday's 7 p.m. championship game.

"We have a chance to do what we did in the first year of the ALC tournament when we won the ALC Championship from the visiting sideline," Liberty Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "When we beat Clemson, they were the No. 1 seed."

The Flames must put their 17-5 setback at the hands of the Hokies on April 2 in Blacksburg, Va., out of its collective memory and make new memories in this weekend's tournament in order to have a chance to qualify for the May 4-9 MCLA DI National Championships at the River City Sportsplex in Midlothian, Va., a suburb of Richmond.

The only way Liberty can guarantee itself a seventh consecutive bid to nationals, played for the first time in Virginia, is by capturing the ALC Tournament title.

"We did what we needed to do to finish the regular season above .500 by winning our last two games to earn a berth into the ALC tournament," McQuillan said. "Now as we enter the second phase, we are excited to get that chance to defend our ALC Championship. As we were the last few weeks, now we are officially pretty confident that if we don't get any more wins, our season will come to an end. If we can get two wins this weekend, we'll be in good shape."

The tournament schedule is staggered a bit differently than the past four seasons when it was held at City Stadium, with Division II semifinals set for Saturday at 2 and 4:30 p.m. and the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"It will be a different vibe, setup, and format," McQuillan said. "We are moving more games into prime-time spots for ESPN broadcasts, giving the DI and DII championship games their own days as stand-alone opportunities to showcase the league."

He is excited about playing in the late game for Friday's second DI semifinal.

"Playing in the ALC Tournament opener at 7:30 p.m. brings us back to how we played the SELC Championships with the first round of games on Friday nights down in Atlanta," McQuillan said. "I love playing at night under the lights at home. There are a lot of advantages there, and we're hoping we can take advantage of them."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer