Liberty Women’s Lax Aims To Win Conference Following Deep 2021 Postseason Run

Coming off its third appearance in a conference championship game, the Liberty women’s lacrosse team is gearing up for one of its toughest seasons in program history.

The Lady Flames are scheduled to compete against four ranked teams with three of the games being played at home. They will host No. 7 Florida (March 9), No. 8 Duke (April 7) and No. 18 Jacksonville (April 23) at the Liberty Lacrosse Field. Their ranked contest comes on the road against No. 12 James Madison April 13.

“We have a really hard schedule, and that’s the goal,” Head Coach Kelly Nangle said. “We want to be challenged.” 

The Lady Flames open the season on the road in Nashville Feb. 12 against a tough Vanderbilt squad, who lost to Jacksonville in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament.

With an exciting schedule ahead, the team is ensuring that they are firing on all cylinders in the preseason.

“It’s exciting to finally get into the first game day because we’ve done so much preparation, and we’re ready for games to start,” Mackenzie Lehman, sophomore midfielder and last year’s ASUN Freshman of the Year, said.

The team currently practices early in the mornings at the Liberty Indoor Practice Facility. The intense practices are marked by the pursuit of the team’s mantra, Team 10, which has grown into a standard over the past few years.

“We have these set 10 words that we go off of, and then at the end of each practice, we note certain people who stuck out in some of them,” 2021 ASUN All-Freshman sophomore midfielder Olivia Glaze said. “I think it gives you something that you want to work towards in each practice.”

The biblically-founded list of 10 standards has been a focus for Nangle. 

“The goal is to stay in pursuit,” Nangle said. “As we go through these games, as we go through ups and downs and whatever adversity comes our way.”

The team set a precedent for the year with six ASUN Preseason All-Conference honorees, led by Lehman and ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year goalkeeper Jennifer Soriero.

“Our goal this year is going to be to spread it around and to have a good flow on offense where we’re getting everyone involved,” Nangle said. “I think that will make us that much harder to defend, and I think we’re finally at that place where we have a lot more threats that we’re setting up to succeed.”

Young players like Lehman and Glaze are expected to make a significant impact this season on a Liberty squad that features a well-rounded mix of veteran experience and youthful talent.

“Being deeper and more balanced is going to help us beat a team like Jacksonville because we can’t rely on just a couple people when it comes to games like that,” Nangle said.

Jacksonville remains a major threat to Liberty’s conference title hopes. Since Liberty joined the ASUN, the Dolphins have squashed Liberty’s ASUN aspirations. Jacksonville has won four meetings between the programs with two wins coming in the ASUN Championship Finals. 

After their season-opener at Vanderbilt Feb. 12, the Lady Flames’ first home game will be Feb. 19 when they take on the Richmond Spiders at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

Shealy is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter