Saturday, February 17
Lynchburg, Va.
1:00 PM ET
Liberty University
1-2
16
vs
4
Longwood
0-1
1
2
3
4
F
Longwood
1
1
1
1
4
Liberty
5
4
5
2
16
Flames Earn First Win of 2024, Top Longwood 16-4
2/17/2024 8:26:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Cami Merkel led the way with five goals to take down Longwood 16-4 Saturday afternoon at the Liberty Lacrosse Field.
Liberty (1-2) grabs its first win of the season after opening the season against two ranked opponents. Longwood (0-1) drops its season opener.
Merkel's five-goal performance, including three in the first half, paved the way for the Lady Flames. Senior Mackenzie Lehman recorded a hat trick with three goals, plus had a goal that was disallowed after a stick inspection.
Freshman Riley Phillips scored her first career goal and freshmen Hattie Messick and Ava Menna collected their first career assists. Menna added a first career draw control (2), a caused turnover and a ground ball on Saturday.
The Lady Flames featured eight different goal scorers on Saturday. Liberty tied a program record with 52 shots on Saturday.
Liberty owns a 1-1 home record after falling 14-6 to No. 16 Virginia to open the season.
With the victory on Saturday, the Lady Flames move to 5-6 against the former Big South rival.
Liberty Goals: Cami Merkel 5, Mackenzie Lehman 3, Kelly Scott 2, Katie Colavito 2, Ava Rajala 2, Olivia Glaze 1, Riley Phillips, Brooke Beard 1
Liberty Assists: Ava Rajala 2, Olivia Glaze 1, Hattie Messick 1, Kelly Scott 1, Jordan Sheive 1
Longwood Goals: Emily Cate Smith 2, Holly Hill 1, Riley McDonald 1
Longwood Assists: Miranda Helfenbein 1, Claire Libby 1, Sophia Passa 1, Emily Smith Cate 1
Goalkeepers:
W, Mara Tellers, 1-2, two saves
L, Bridget Robinson, 0-1, 13 saves
Turning Point
Liberty jumped ahead out of the gate with a score from Mackenzie Lehman 42 seconds into the game, but Longwood answered back with Emily Cate Smith finding the back of the net at 8:39. The Lady Flames responded with four consecutive goals capped off with a Cami Merkel score with just :03 seconds left in the opening quarter. The Lady Flames held a commanding 5-1 lead entering the second with Merkel's goal proving to be enough for Liberty to grab the win.
First Half Summary
Key Stats and Notes
Up Next
Liberty (1-2) welcomes No. 20 Richmond (2-0), next Saturday. First draw is set for 1 pm from the Liberty Lacrosse Field. Liberty traveled to Richmond in 2023, falling 18-6. The Lady Flames seek its first-ever win over the Spiders, currently 0-9 facing the in-state rival.
Liberty (1-2) grabs its first win of the season after opening the season against two ranked opponents. Longwood (0-1) drops its season opener.
Merkel's five-goal performance, including three in the first half, paved the way for the Lady Flames. Senior Mackenzie Lehman recorded a hat trick with three goals, plus had a goal that was disallowed after a stick inspection.
Freshman Riley Phillips scored her first career goal and freshmen Hattie Messick and Ava Menna collected their first career assists. Menna added a first career draw control (2), a caused turnover and a ground ball on Saturday.
The Lady Flames featured eight different goal scorers on Saturday. Liberty tied a program record with 52 shots on Saturday.
Liberty owns a 1-1 home record after falling 14-6 to No. 16 Virginia to open the season.
With the victory on Saturday, the Lady Flames move to 5-6 against the former Big South rival.
Liberty Goals: Cami Merkel 5, Mackenzie Lehman 3, Kelly Scott 2, Katie Colavito 2, Ava Rajala 2, Olivia Glaze 1, Riley Phillips, Brooke Beard 1
Liberty Assists: Ava Rajala 2, Olivia Glaze 1, Hattie Messick 1, Kelly Scott 1, Jordan Sheive 1
Longwood Goals: Emily Cate Smith 2, Holly Hill 1, Riley McDonald 1
Longwood Assists: Miranda Helfenbein 1, Claire Libby 1, Sophia Passa 1, Emily Smith Cate 1
Goalkeepers:
W, Mara Tellers, 1-2, two saves
L, Bridget Robinson, 0-1, 13 saves
Turning Point
Liberty jumped ahead out of the gate with a score from Mackenzie Lehman 42 seconds into the game, but Longwood answered back with Emily Cate Smith finding the back of the net at 8:39. The Lady Flames responded with four consecutive goals capped off with a Cami Merkel score with just :03 seconds left in the opening quarter. The Lady Flames held a commanding 5-1 lead entering the second with Merkel's goal proving to be enough for Liberty to grab the win.
First Half Summary
- Liberty put the pressure on early and kept its foot on the gas for the length of the contest. The Lady Flames registered 14 shots in both the first and second quarters with nine finding the back of the net.
- Merkel secured three goals during the first 16 minutes of the game. The senior leads Liberty with eight goals in 2024.
- Sophomore Katie Colavito netted back-to-back goals within minutes of each other in the opening quarter.
- The Lady Flames dominated possession in the opening half. Liberty outdrew Longwood 10-3 and collected eight ground balls compared to the Lancers' 12.
- Liberty had five different goal scorers in the first half with three Merkel, Lehman and Colavito scoring multiple goals.
Second Half SummaryBEHIND-THE-BACK GOAL 4 BROOKE BEARD! #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/mu9ZMWA2au
— Liberty Lacrosse (@LibertyWLAX) February 17, 2024
- Ava Rajala opened the scoring with her first goal in 2024 at 11:54. Merkel followed with two consecutive scores.
- Longwood's Holly Hill scored midway through the quarter to end a run of seven unanswered goals.
- Lehman answered back with her seventh goal of the season at 2:47 of the third. Just over a minute later, Brooke Beard put together a highlight reel score as she went behind the back as she was crossing the keeper's face, finding the back of the net at the keeper's feet at 1:28.
- The fourth quarter saw just three goals, two for the Lady Flames and a single goal in Longwood's favor.
- Liberty tallied an impressive 19 shots in the third quarter compared to just a single shot by the Lancers.
Key Stats and Notes
- The Lady Flames tied a program record of 52 shots on Saturday. Liberty registered 52 shots in a 21-7 win over Gardner Webb in 2017. Seven different Liberty athletes tallied at least four shots in Saturday's contest.
- Colavito led all players with six caused turnovers. The senior also scored twice, won four draw controls and collected five ground balls. Colavito is the team leader with 10 caused turnovers this season.
- The Lady Flames dominated counting stats, including ground balls (31-21), draw controls (16-6) and caused turnovers (17-12).
- Liberty allowed just a single goal in each quarter of play.
- Goalkeeper Mara Tellers received her first win of 2024 making two saves. The junior goalkeeper won two games in 2023. Goalkeeper Taylor Gallarello made her first appearance in 2024 on Saturday, making a single save.
Up Next
Liberty (1-2) welcomes No. 20 Richmond (2-0), next Saturday. First draw is set for 1 pm from the Liberty Lacrosse Field. Liberty traveled to Richmond in 2023, falling 18-6. The Lady Flames seek its first-ever win over the Spiders, currently 0-9 facing the in-state rival.
Team Stats
LWU
LIBERTY
Shots
11
52
Turnovers
25
18
Caused Turnovers
12
21
Draw Controls
6
16
Free-Position Shots
0
7
Ground Balls
21
31
Game Leaders
G
5
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
3
CT
0
G
3
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
3
CT
2
G
2
A
1
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
1
G
2
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
5
CT
6
Players Mentioned
A
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
GK
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
A
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
M
/ Women's Lacrosse
A
/ Women's Lacrosse
A
/ Women's Lacrosse
GK
/ Women's LacrosseLiberty Lacrosse: Giving Hope to a New Teammate
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Coach Nangle Talks About Preparing For The NCAA WLAX Tournament
Tuesday, May 06
Mackenzie Lehman & Katie Colavito Talk About Preparing For The NCAA WLAX Tournament
Tuesday, May 06
Coach Nangle & Mackenzie Lehman Talk About Winning The ASUN Tournament
Saturday, May 03