Liberty Prepared for Challenge at No. 12 James Madison

LYNCHBURG, Va. – No strangers to difficult matchups, Liberty (10-5) gets set to meet No. 12 James Madison (9-4) on the road on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The contest from Sentara Park will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

The Lady Flames are coming off a pair of Atlantic Sun triumphs over Lindenwood 23-12 on Thursday and besting Kennesaw State 22-18 on Saturday. Wednesday's contest will mark Liberty's final non-conference meeting, seeking to improve on a 5-5 mark.

JMU serves as Liberty's fourth contest this spring against a ranked opponent. The Lady Flames have matched up against No. 9 Virginia, then No. 4 and current No. 1 North Carolina and No. 20 Richmond. The team earned an upset victory and a program-best ranked win, topping Richmond 14-13 on Feb. 22.

Liberty seeks its first-ever victory against JMU, currently 0-4 all-time against the Dukes.

Lady Flames News & Notes

Liberty is on pace for a record-breaking season. Currently the No. 10 team in the country with 232 total scores this season, the squad is on pace (15.46 goals/game) to top the best regular season total of 245 goals in 2023 (14.41 goals/game) with a total record of 271 goals also set in 2023.
Taiva Reinertson and Mackenzie Lehman lead the team with 45 goals this year, both are on pace to best the program record held by Katy Pridemore with 52 goals in 2015.
Reinertson (45g, 14a) paces the squad with 59 points.
The Lady Flames are also on pace to achieve program-best single-season records in draw controls and caused turnovers, currently averaging 17.33 draw controls and 18.60 caused turnovers per game.
Liberty ranks No. 7 in the country in draws per game. Ava Menna leads the team and ranks No. 13 in the country with 8.60 draw controls per game (130 total).
The Lady Flames rank No. 6 nationally with 35.93 shots per game.
Cami Merkel and Ava Rajala share the team lead with 21 assists.
Liberty ranks No. 1 in the country with 16.87 caused turnovers per game (279 total) and ground balls per game with 21.73 per game (352 total).
Jenna Burrow paces the team, the ASUN and ranks No. 12 in the country with 2.33 caused turnovers per game (35 total) and leads the team and is third in the ASUN with 42 ground balls.
Goalkeeper Rachel Hines (9-5) has made all but one start this season. The sophomore has earned a 14.00 goals-against average and a .385 save percentage on 352 shots faced.

Schedule

Liberty Prepared for Challenge at No. 12 James Madison

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Burrow

Rachel Hines

Mackenzie Lehman

Ava Menna

Cami Merkel

Ava Rajala

Taiva Reinertson