Liberty Men’s Lacrosse Wins 15-5 Against JMU on April 11

The Liberty University Men’s Lacrosse team held its final home game of the season April 11 against James Madison University (JMU) to claim a 15-5 victory on senior night. 

The Flames recognized six graduating seniors on the field before the game began: midfielder Ryan Merbach, defenseman Conor Guiltinan, midfielder Will Geary, graduate student faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett, defenseman Dylan Barrett and long stick midfielder Ben Chun.  

“Our message was to everybody like, ‘Hey, these guys deserve the best from you. They deserve for you guys to show up,’” Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. “To be honest if our seniors showed up and just played for themselves, then we wouldn’t have the same level of success, and I think everybody did a great job tonight.” 

The first quarter began with JMU winning the opening faceoff. The Flames showed dominance and regained possession, allowing junior attacker Luke Branham to net the first goal of the game for Liberty with an assist from sophomore midfielder Hunter Rockhill.  

Graduate student attacker Braden Landry continued to build Liberty’s lead with his first goal of the night. Landry’s goal came off an assist from senior midfielder Shane Supek. Soon after the Flames’ goal, the Dukes put their first point on the board with an unassisted goal.  

Branham extended the Flames’ lead again on his second goal of the night with an assist from Landry. Merbach was able to celebrate senior night by securing an unassisted goal to bring the score to 4-1. Junior midfielder Luke Campbell netted his only goal of the game with the help of graduate student attacker Keaton Mohs. The first quarter finished with a 5-1 score in Liberty’s favor.  

To open the second quarter, Hammett won the faceoff for the Flames. JMU battled and gained back possession, allowing the Dukes to score another unassisted goal. The Flames earned the ball back, allowing sophomore midfielder Easton Cahill to net his first unassisted goal of the night.  

The Dukes snatched another goal right before JMU picked up a penalty for an illegal body check. The second quarter ended with the score at 6-3 with Liberty still maintaining control in the low-scoring first half.  

The third quarter opened with JMU winning the faceoff. Supek was the first to find the net unassisted for Liberty in the second half. The Dukes quickly answered back, determined to stay in the fight, bringing the score to 7-4.  

The Flames turned up the heat in the third quarter with four unanswered goals. Branham completed his hat trick with his third of the night, assisted by sophomore midfielder Kason Brehm. Cahill, Mohs and freshman midfielder Parker Ackerman scored back-to-back goals, all off assists from Landry. Liberty found its footing to finish the quarter with an 11-4 score to hold the lead.  

“A good start and then a little bit of a low there in the second quarter and even early in the third, but halfway through that third quarter I feel like we started kind of finding a bit more of our identity,” McQuillan said.  

Liberty dominated the final quarter, winning the opening faceoff. Mohs found the net for the second time off an assist from freshman midfielder William Morris. Landry netted his second goal of the night with the help of Branham.  

Mohs, off a pass from Hammett, found the net to secure his third goal of the night to make him the second Flame to earn a hat trick. The Dukes scored their final goal of the night before Landry finished them off. Unassisted, Landry put one in the net for his third goal of the night. Three Flames secured hat tricks, and Landry led the team in points with three goals and four assists.  

“It’s a little bittersweet. It’s been so fun this year. I am getting old, so I think it’s good that my career is coming to an end, but it’s such a blessing being here,” Hammett said. “I’m going to miss these guys, and I’m just going to enjoy the rest of the year with them.”  

Liberty found success on senior night with a 15-5 final score. 

“This team has proven time and time again that if we play our style and we play our game like we’ve done for the past 13 games in a row that we’ll be fine,” McQuillan said. 

Liberty will move on to compete in the Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Tournament April 26-27 in Lynchburg, Virginia.  

Schlösser is the asst. sports editor for the Liberty Champion.