Lacrosse Gears Up for a Pair of ASUN Matchups

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty (4-5, 2-0 ASUN) looks to continue its hot start to conference play hosting a pair of Atlantic Sun matchups, welcoming Stetson (1-8, 1-0 ASUN) on Thursday at 4 p.m. and meeting Jacksonville (6-2, 2-0 ASUN) on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both contests will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Liberty is coming off a 2-0 week on the road to kick off ASUN play. The Lady Flames ousted Lindenwood 19-8 on Thursday before handling newcomer, Austin Peay, 24-7 on Saturday.

Sophia Nesci, a freshman, was honored as the ASUN Player of the Week on Monday. She totaled 10 goals and four assists with matching five-goal and two-assist performances in each contest.

The Lady Flames are currently enjoying a three-game winning streak after beginning the season with a 1-4 record. Liberty has yet to secure a win on its home field this season.

Liberty hopes to remain undefeated against Stetson with a 7-0 all-time record. The Lady Flames seek their second-ever triumph against Jacksonville, currently 1-14 in program history, when facing the Dolphins.

Three of the Lady Flames' four losses in the early season have come against ranked opponents. Liberty opened the season against No. 8 Johns Hopkins (17-7) and was taken down by No. 24 (17-8) Virginia and No. 25 Richmond (16-6).

Lady Flames News & Notes

Nesci leads Liberty with 24 goals and 37 points (second with 13 assists). The Freshman has scored in every game this season, including a streak of six straight contests tallying multiple goals.
The Syracuse, N.Y. native is currently on pace (4.11 ppg) to break Katy Pridemore's freshman scoring record, which she set in 2015 (52g, 68p, 3.4 ppg). She currently ranks fourth among Liberty freshmen in program history with 37 points and sixth with 24 goals.
Nesci has been brutally efficient leading the Lady Flames' attack this season. The attacker ranks No. 16 nationally in shot percentage (24-of-40, .600) and No. 11 in the country in free-position percentage (8-of-11, .727). Nesci has unleashed 40 total shots, with the 36 going on frame.
Katie Colavitio has impressed on all three levels of the field. She leads the team with 20 caused turnovers, is second on the team with 21 goals and 24 ground balls, and she is third on the squad with 14 draw controls.
Colavito (105) became the 11^th Lady Flame all-time to score 100 career goals last week.
Liberty leads the country in both caused turnovers per game (16.33) and ground balls per game (21.78).
Madeleine Klunder leads the team with 25 caused turnovers.
Colavito (103) and Klunder (100) became the fourth and fifth Lady Flames all-time to eclipse 100 caused turnovers in program history last week.
Jenna Burrow (101) also reached the century mark with 100 ground balls.
Liberty has seen split deployment in the draw control this season. Ava Menna and Nina Gray share the team lead with 30 draw controls this season.
Goalkeeper Rachel Hines (4-5) continues to impress in the crease this season. She carries a 12.23 goals-against average and a .423 save percentage on 248 shots faced. The junior has also tallied six caused turnovers and 17 ground balls.
Last week, Liberty netted 19 goals between two third quarters (9 at LIN, 10 at AP), while allowing two total goals.
As a team, Liberty ranks No. 33 in the country free-position percentage (24-of-48, .500).

Schedule

Lacrosse Gears Up for a Pair of ASUN Matchups

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jenna Burrow

Nina Gray

Rachel Hines

Madeleine Klunder

Ava Menna

Sophia Nesci