Liberty Women’s lacrosse routs Old Dominion

The excitement from the field spread to the crowd Friday, March 22, when the Liberty Women’s Lacrosse team took on Old Dominion, defeating the Monarchs 14-8. 

The Liberty women have the best nine-game start in program history, 7-2.   

“We are at that stretch in the season where there’s a lot going on,” Head Coach Kelly Nangle said. “We have to try to keep the girls focused, and we still need to do better and focus on handling the ball.” 

While the game appeared to be a back-and-forth of the ball between the Flames and the Monarchs, no one wanted to allow the ball to go in the goal.  Both teams were putting out a defense that tried to let nothing slip by. In the first half, the Monarchs scored the first four goals, but the Flames did not trail behind for long.

Liberty then scored  six goals, bringing the score to 6-4 at the end of the first half. The fans noticed the eccentric play from senior Brianna McCaffrey, and she helped bring the team together during this game.

“Having the team push me was so encouraging,” McCaffrey said. “That’s what I play for.  We went into this game with more composure and we saw that difference in the score. We had a lot of confidence.”

The last time the Flames took on the Monarchs, they beat this cross-state rival for the first time, 14-12. This time, the Flames were not going to let the Monarchs get close.

There were not as many fouls on the Flames, although several players received yellow cards.  However, there were many times when the Flames would turn the ball over when there had not been a fight put up for it.  

“We have been working hard on not turning the ball over in practice,” McCaffrey said. “We’ve started to notice a pattern over the last couple of games where we have unnecessary turnovers, so we have been
focusing on that.”

The Flames were on fire, and they made that clear when they scored only a few minutes after the half began. 

The Flames ended the game 14-8.  

“They have done a great job this season about not giving up a lot of opportunity,” Nangle said. “They have continued to do a great job with those chances. Our midfielders are doing everything they can right now, and they are fun to watch.” 

Liberty Women’s lacrosse team faces Howard at home Friday, April 26.