Liberty Looks for 2-0 Road Trip, Squares Off with No. 12 Notre Dame on Sunday
3/17/2023 1:29:15 PM | Women's Lacrosse
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Liberty will take on its fifth ranked foe in the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Sunday afternoon.
The game marks the fifth road match out of seven total games on the season for the Lady Flames. First draw is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside the Loftus Family Sports Center in Notre Dame, Ind. and will be televised on ACC Network Extra.
The Lady Flames (2-4) seek their first win against the Fighting Irish (5-2) having lost all four of its matches against the program. The two last met in 2021, with No. 4 Notre Dame earning a 19-5 home win.
Liberty will be facing its fourth ACC team, all on the road, in its first seven games of the season. Liberty has faced No. 1 North Carolina (Feb.15), No. 11 Duke (Feb. 28), Pitt (Tuesday), and will now take on No. 12 Notre Dame. Liberty topped Pitt 13-7 on Tuesday.
Notre Dame is coming off a 14-1 at home against Virginia Tech, led by Kasey Chroma netting a career-high eight goals.
Lady Flames News and Notes
• Liberty looks to build upon its fourth quarter from Tuesday, outscoring Pitt 5-0 in the final 15 minutes to put the game away. The Lady Flames had three players with at least three goals in Mackenzie Lehman (four), Jordan Sheive (four) and Cami Merkel (three).
• Liberty is 12th in the country in caused turnovers per game with 10.50 per contest. Liberty’s defense is led in caused turnovers by Grace Loughery (10) and Lizzy Ferguson (eight).
• Liberty midfielder Lizzy Ferguson ranks 10th in the nation in draw controls per game at 8.17. Ferguson led the Lady Flames with 11 draws against Pitt in helping Liberty hold a 20-4 advantage in the draw circle. The midfielder is chasing the conference lead only trailing Kennesaw State’s Bailey Wilson (11.29 draws/game).
• Liberty’s Grace Loughery is the best in the ASUN in caused turnovers per game (1.67) and is closely followed by Liberty teammates Mikayla Coghill (third with 1.40) and Lizzy Ferguson (fourth with 1.33). Loughery is also 41st in the nation and No. 2 in the ASUN in ground balls per game with 2.67.
• No. 12 Notre Dame will mark the fifth ranked opponent that Liberty has faced this season. A win over the Fighting Irish would be the first win in program history for the Lady Flames over a ranked team.
• The Lady Flames hosted Notre Dame in 2019, the first Liberty team to host the Fighting Irish in any sport. Notre Dame prevailed 14-10 over Liberty in Lynchburg.
• Liberty is facing an aggressive Fighting Irish defense that is currently seventh in caused turnovers per game with 11.00 per game. Notre Dame also looks to challenge Liberty at the draw as Notre Dame is top 10 in both win percentage (fifth at .623) and draw controls per game (ninth with 17). The Lady Flames also face a challenge in getting past goalkeeper Lilly Callahan who is 14th in the nation in goals against average at 8.73.
• Liberty’s defense and goalkeepers will be tested once again as Notre Dame carries the 16th best scoring offense achieving 14.83 goals per game.
• The Lady Flames are looking to avoid a 2-5 start to the season. The last time Liberty started the season with such a record was in 2015 with it started before finishing out 9-11.
