Lady Flames, Bulldogs Set for Tuesday Women's Lacrosse Matchup
3/12/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Game Notes
Live Stats
Liberty Women's Lacrosse Instagram
Liberty Women's Lacrosse Twitter
Liberty lacrosse is set for a 3 p.m. home matchup on Tuesday against the Butler Bulldogs at the Liberty Lacrosse Field.
The Lady Flames (4-2) will return to the field after a week-plus of preparation following their last contest at Richmond (March 3). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (0-6) are in the middle of a three-game road trip. They played at Radford, last Saturday, and will play at Howard on Thursday.
At 4-2, Liberty has matched its best start in program history. In 2013, the Lady Flames also started 4-2. In 2018, the Lady Flames own victories over Mercer (14-7 on Feb. 10), East Carolina (15-4 on Feb. 21), Robert Morris (14-9 on Feb. 25) and Old Dominion (14-12 on Feb. 28). Each win came against an opponent Liberty had never previously beaten before.
Richmond snapped Liberty's three-game winning streak by defeating the Lady Flames, 12-8, on March 3 in Richmond, Va. Butler is still in search of its first victory of 2018 following recent losses to Campbell (20-9 last Tuesday) and Radford (21-12 last Saturday).
Series History
The Lady Flames and Bulldogs met for the first time on Feb. 12, 2017 in Indianapolis, Ind. It was the Bulldogs' first contest as a NCAA Division I program. Liberty defeated Butler, 16-9, on that day behind multiple-goal efforts from five players: Hannah Quast (3), Kayla Foster (3), Brianna McCaffrey (2), Jenna Joyal (2) and Paige Britton (2).
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Live statistics, courtesy of Liberty Athletics Communications, will be available for Tuesday's contest. Find the link for the stats on the Liberty women's lacrosse schedule page on LibertyFlames.com.
For live in-game social media updates from the Liberty Lacrosse Field, follow @libertywlax on Twitter. Also, be sure to follow "libertywlax" on Instagram for live updates before, during and after the match.
Lady Flames News and Notes
- The Lady Flames boast the best non-conference record of Big South teams so far at 4-2. High Point (3-2) and Radford (3-2) are close behind, followed by Winthrop (3-3), Longwood (3-4), Campbell (2-5), Gardner-Webb (2-5) and Presbyterian (1-6).
- Liberty is third in the country in caused turnovers per game (12.83), leading all Big South teams in the category. The Lady Flames' best effort featured 17 caused turnovers, Feb. 25 vs. Robert Morris.
- The Lady Flames are also in the top 30 nationally in assists per game (No. 21, 6.00), save percentage (No. 23, .485), win percentage (No. 26, .667) and ground balls per game (20.33).
- Junior midfielder Brianna McCaffrey checks in at No. 21 in the country and No. 3 in the Big South in caused turnovers per game (2.17). Junior attacker Kayla Foster is 39th in the country in assists with nine. She is the program's all-time leader with 71 assists.
- McCaffrey is a two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week, this season. She garnered the honors last Wednesday and also on Feb. 27. Jenna Joyal was named the Big South Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 27. Joyal and McCaffrey were the first pair in program history to receive Big South Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week accolades in the same week.
- Sophomore Carly White, last year's Big South Freshman of the Year, leads the squad with 18 points (10 goals, eight assists). The Marietta, Ga., native has 16 of those 18 points over her last four contests.
- Goalkeepers Aubrie Tarris and Katherine Widrick, who have split time evenly (180:00 apiece) in goal, have combined for a .485 save percentage, the 23rd-best mark in the nation. Tarris is 2-2 with 29 saves and a 13.00 goals-against-average, while Widrick is 2-0 with 34 saves and a 9.33 goals-against-average.
- Sophomore attacker Jenna Joyal, along with senior attacker Abby Britton, have been the team's two most accurate shooters. All 17 of Joyal's shots have been on cage, and all nine of Britton's attempts this season have been on frame as well.
- The Lady Flames have shown themselves to be a stronger second half team in 2018. While they've been outscored, 39-31, in the first half, they hold a 38-28 edge over their opponents in the second half.
- Liberty is 0-2 all-time on March 13. The Lady Flames lost at San Diego State, 18-12, on March 13, 2015 and at Robert Morris, 13-10, a year ago.
Scouting Butler
In their second season at the DI level, the Bulldogs are led by head coach Cecil C. Pilson. Butler is paced on the offensive end by redshirt junior Haley Hallenbeck (8 g, 4 a, 12 pts) and freshman Ashley Guerra (8 g, 3 a, 11 pts). Sophomore Christina Soderquist (24 draw controls) is the Bulldogs' top player around the draw circle.
Sophomore Haley Rayburn (0-3, 17.51 GAA, 46 saves in 250:06) has seen the bulk of the time in net Butler. Freshman Amanda Rumsey (0-3, 19.11, 13 saves in 109:54) could also see some time between the pipes on Tuesday afternoon.
