Lady Flames Soar Past George Mason
3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
The Liberty Lady Flames lacrosse squad notched its second victory of the season on Wednesday, this time on the road at George Mason. Liberty downed the Patriots, 11-7 to improve to 2-6 on the season. Meanwhile, George Mason falls to 4-3 following the loss.
The Lady Flames struck first in the opening minute of play when Sam Struss netted her 18th goal of the season. Struss gathered the ball at the top of the crease, settling the offense for the attack. The senior attacker cleared space, beating her defender to the left side. Struss ripped the ball to the right side of the net for the early 1-0 advantage.
Liberty extended the lead to two when Michaela Rich notched her seventh goal of the year with 19:16 left in the first half. Co-captain Morgan Becker found Rich pacing to the net from the right side. Becker flung the ball to Rich who corralled it for the shot on net. Rich completed the one-timer to extend the lead to 2-0.
However, the George Mason attack came to life with a 3-0 spurt that was capped off by Jacquelyn Spalding's second goal of the contest with 12:50 left before intermission.
Despite surrendering the early lead, Liberty netted two unanswered goals to regain the lead at 4-3. Rich collected her second goal of the contest and eighth goal on the campaign. Once again, Becker found Rich cutting toward the net. Rich buried the shot in the back of the net for the equalizer with 12:16 left in the opening frame.
Becker netted her own goal to catapult the Lady Flames ahead of the Patriots. Struss ran around the back of the net, passing the ball over the right edge to a wide open Becker. Becker raced towards the net, whipping the ball into the goal for her 11th goal of the season and giving Liberty the 4-3 advantage with 11:16 left before halftime.
The Lady Flames began the second half the same way they began the contest, with a 2-0 stretch to extend the lead to 6-3. Becker only needed 15 seconds to push the lead to 5-3. Becker gathered the ball and spun around the defender for the wide open shot on net. Becker buried the shot for her second goal of the contest.
Paige Britton netted her second goal of the season with 28:32 left to play in the second half, extending the Liberty lead to 6-3. Struss picked up her second assist of the contest when she dished the ball to Britton. The redshirt freshman fired the ball into the top right corner for the goal.
George Mason pulled back to within two when Melissa Lobaccaro netted her 12th goal of the season with 23:36 left in the second half.
The Lady Flames rode another 2-0 wave over the next 10 minutes to push the lead to a game-high four goals. The run began when freshman standout Katy Pridemore notched her 20th goal of the season. Pridemore's goal marked the eighth consecutive contest that the Florida native has scored, pushing the lead to 7-4.
Kallie Britton capped off the short spurt with her seventh goal of the season at the 13:47 mark. Britton corralled the ball that was mishandled by George Mason keeper, Taylor Carpentier. Britton fired the ball into the back of the net to push the lead to 8-4, forcing the Patriots to call a timeout.
The game was all but over before George Mason went on a 3-1 run to cut the Liberty lead to just two with 4:58 left to play. The Lady Flames' lone goal during the Patriots' run came from Pridemore, assisted by Nina Dunay. The co-captain dumped the ball off to Pridemore who was racing towards the net. The freshman ripped the ball into the back of the net to ensure that the Lady Flames stay atop George Mason.
With Liberty leading the Patriots, 9-7, Rich buried her third and fourth goals of the contest to extend the lead back to four. With 3:00 left to play, Rich received a pass from Struss that set up her hat trick. Rich whirled the ball into the top right corner of the net to extend the lead to 10-7. Rich capped off the game's scoring with 1:39 left to play when Kallie Britton spotted Rich in front of the net. Britton passed the ball off to Rich for her game-high fourth goal, solidifying the final score at 11-7 in favor of the red and blue.
Liberty outshot the Patriots by a total of 22-21 over the course of the contest as well as notching more saves, 10-7.
Elmer proved why she is the nation's save leader in the contest, notching 13 saves on the contest to push her season total to 121. The Maryland native also successfully scooped up three ground balls during the contest.
Liberty returns to action next Wednesday when the Lady Flames travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on James Madison at 7 p.m. at the University Park.
