Liberty Set for 2020 Home Opener Against Furman, Wednesday Afternoon
2/18/2020 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Live Video: Liberty vs. Furman (ESPN+)
Live Stats: Liberty vs. Furman
Liberty Women's Lacrosse Season Stats
Liberty Women's Lacrosse Instagram
Liberty Women's Lacrosse Twitter
ASUN Women's Lacrosse Home Page
Liberty will be looking for its first win of the 2020 campaign when it hosts the Furman Paladins in its home opener, Wednesday. First draw is slated for 1 p.m. at the Liberty Lacrosse Field.
The Lady Flames enter the contest with a 0-2 mark following a 20-5 setback at No. 23 Virginia Tech, last Saturday. The Paladins (2-0) are unbeaten through two games, having beaten East Carolina (14-11 final) and Fresno State (12-11 final).
Liberty and Furman are meeting for the second straight year. In the first-ever meeting between the two schools in 2019, the Lady Flames prevailed 14-10 at Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
Liberty has had a distinct home field advantage over the past two seasons, posting a 13-2 combined record. The Lady Flames were 7-0 on their home turf in 2018 and 6-2 in 2019.
Lady Flames News and Notes
- Liberty is 5-5 all-time in home openers. The Lady Flames fell to No. 20 Notre Dame 14-10 in last year's first home game, Feb. 17, 2019. It was Liberty's closest game ever against a ranked foe and also marked the first time Liberty had ever faced Notre Dame in any Division I athletic contest.
- Senior captain Carly White ranks in the top 25 in the country and leads the ASUN in caused turnovers per game (No. 10, 3.00) and draw controls per game (No. 24, 6.50). The midfielder from Marietta, Ga., has four goals, an assist and five points and leads the team in ground balls (6), draw controls (13) and caused turnovers (6) through two matches.
- Junior attacker Anna Keebler, who enjoyed a breakout sophomore season last year with 37 goals, paces the Lady Flames with seven goals through two contests. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native checks in at 42nd in the country in goals per game (3.50) in the early going.
- Both Liberty and Furman were picked to finish second in their respective preseason coaches polls. The Lady Flames were tabbed to finish runner-up to Jacksonville in the ASUN Conference, and the Paladins were slotted behind preseason favorite Mercer in the Southern Conference (SoCon).
- Liberty will be looking to avoid its first 0-3 start since the 2015 campaign. Despite the slow start that season, the Lady Flames posted a 5-2 Big South mark and reached the Big South Lacrosse Championship title game in head coach Kelly Nangle's second year at the helm.
- Liberty's three goalkeepers have each seen 30 or more minutes of action during the first two games of the season. Redshirt freshman Emma Kendrick leads the group with seven saves and a .333 save percentage.
- Turnovers have plagued the Lady Flames to start the season. Liberty is 107th out of 111 Division I teams with 23.00 turnovers per game and ranks last in the ASUN in the category.
- The Lady Flames surrendered 20 goals each in their first two games. The last time Liberty surrendered 20 or more goals in consecutive games was in 2015. The Lady Flames ranked 14th in the country in scoring defense in 2019, allowing only 9.11 goals per game.
