Lacrosse builds three-game winning streak

Goalie Kristen Masullo No. 1 in NCAA Division 1

The Lady Flames lacrosse team had a victorious week winning Tuesday’s, Friday’s and Sunday’s home games 14-13, 15-10 and 19-9 respectively, triumphing in their first conference game and housing a No. 1 ranked goalie to boot.

Unstoppable — Freshman Nina Dunay’s five goals against Fresno State lifted the Lady Flames over the Lady Bulldogs in a 14-13 win. Dunay has 21 goals on the year. Photo credit: Chris Mabes

It was announced after the team’s Tuesday game that Liberty goalie, freshman Kristen Masullo, is currently ranked the No. 1 goalie in NCAA Division 1 women’s lacrosse. Beating out 85 other goalies for the prestigious position, Masullo is modest in her success.

“It’s definitely a God-thing and a team-thing,” Masullo said. “It wouldn’t have happened without the support of my teammates, my coaches, my family and God pushing me through all of it because it’s a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of hard work to get there and it’s nice to see that payoff.”

Masullo has an average of 14 saves per game, the highest among NCAA Division 1 goalies. She had a total of 55 saves in the first four games of this season.

“(The coaches) are out there every day and they make practice fun,” Masullo said. “It’s a good family and team community to be on. That’s literally what helps me to be better.”

Masullo and her teammates played Fresno State at Osborne Stadium Tuesday. The Lady Flames got off to a quick start scoring twice in less than five minutes of the first half. Freshman Nina Dunay, the game’s high scorer with five goals, scored the first goal followed closely by junior captain Kristin Crowley who had an assist from junior Cammille Little.

Tuesday’s game marked Dunay’s third game this season in which she scored at least five goals. Crowley and freshman Karis Walborn finished with three goals each. Masullo had 14 saves while Little, freshman Jen Moyer and sophomore Candice Parsons each added a point to Liberty’s total score.

Liberty’s offense dominated much of the game, eventually bringing the Lady Flames to a 14-9 lead over the Bulldogs in the second half.

With just over three minutes left in the second half, Fresno State started to close the gap. In only two minutes, Fresno State brought the score to 14-13 with Liberty in the lead.

Liberty’s defense was able to hold back Fresno State’s determined offense to win the game with a final score of 14-13.

“We definitely struggled in the last 10 minutes of the game,” head coach Regan Denham said. “(We) kind of let the other team back in, we were still obviously still able to come up with the win so we’re excited about that.”

Only three days later, despite cold and cloudy weather, more than 100 fans piled into Osborne Stadium to cheer on the Lady Flames in their first conference game of the season against Detroit Mercy.

To start off the game, Detroit Mercy took possession of the ball and scored less than 15 seconds into the first half and again one minute later. Detroit Mercy’s third attempt at a score was saved by Masullo.

After a slow start, Liberty picked up, scoring six points in a row with no additional goals by Detroit Mercy. Walborn, Dunay, Moyer, freshman Jen Freymond and sophomore Audra Menez each made a mark during the nine- minute span.

Again, at the beginning of the second half, the Titans took control and scored in under a minute but the Lady Flames remained in the lead and did not let the Titans keep their drive.

“(In) Tuesday’s game we lost our momentum and (Fresno State) came back but this game we stayed pumped the entire time,”Walborn said. “We didn’t let it get to our heads, the fact that we were up. We kept the mindset that it was 0-0.”

With eight minutes left in the second half, Dunay was injured and left the playing field. Though absent from play for the rest of the game, Dunay scored three points for the Lady Flames. Also scoring three a piece were Walborn and Menez.

Freshman Jordan Richardson, junior Anna Starling and junior Annessa Jamison also scored for Liberty with one goal each. Freymond and Menez made the first goals of their careers during Friday’s game.

It was a passing game for Liberty’s offense, which were able to get around Detroit Mercy’s determined defense with quick and successful passes.

“We were working on being able to hold the ball and attack with our stall and they did an awesome job,” Denham said.

The Titans depended on their defense, putting several defenders on one Liberty offender on numerous occasions. Ultimately, Liberty’s offense prevailed.

“We are excited about this win, first win in the conference, so we are really excited about this win,” Denham said.

Masullo had a total of 13 saves against Detroit Mercy and spent the entire 60 minutes of the game fiercely guarding Liberty’s goal.

To prepare for the week’s games, the Lady Flames were pushed to their limit over spring break with two-a-days starting mercilessly early in the morning and several grueling games over break.

“It was very hard but it’s definitely paying off. It was very smart on our coaches’ parts to have us do that,” Walborn said.

The Lady Flames kept their winning streak alive with a 19-9 win over the Lady Bison of Howard University Sunday.

Menez and Moyer each netted five apiece for the Lady Flames, while Crowley, Walborn, Freymond and freshman Emily Dinsmore each added goals.

The Lady Flames three-game winning streak makes them 2-0 in conference play, 4-0 in home games at Osborne Stadium and 4-3 for the season.

The Lady Flames hope to keep their momentum as they host Virginia Tech on March 29 at 4 p.m. and then travel to Jacksonville on April 1.

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