Liberty University
1-3
Furman
1-2
Liberty's Late Comeback Falls Shy in 10-8 Loss at Furman
2/27/2021 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Liberty nearly erased a five-goal second half deficit at Furman, but the Lady Flames' rally came up short in a 10-8 road setback to the Paladins on Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
Liberty see its record move to 1-3 overall and 0-2 on the road following this afternoon's non-conference defeat. Furman (1-2) earns its first victory of the season and first win over the Lady Flames in what was the third all-time matchup between the two programs.
Liberty trailed 9-4 with 22:40 remaining before holding the Paladins scoreless for a stretch of 19:50 in the second half. During that stretch, the Lady Flames scored four times. Freshman midfielder Mackenzie Lehman's second goal of the contest with 2:50 left drew Liberty within a goal (9-8).
However, Furman's Hannah Dintino scored with 2:04 left, the hosts' first goal in over 20 minutes, to push the lead back to two, 10-8. Paladins goalkeeper Meghan Deehan kept the Lady Flames off the scoreboard the rest of the way and made her seventh and final save of the day on a Leah Ruby shot with 22 seconds left to secure the win.
Liberty goalkeeper Jennifer Soriero (11 saves) notched her third double-digit save game of the season and tallied a career-best nine ground balls in the contest.
Thoughts From Head Coach Kelly Nangle
"It was another tough game for our group. We did what we needed to do to give ourselves the opportunities we needed to close the game. We just didn't take advantage. We need to execute a little better and keep building offensively. I'm proud of how we battled back and worked until the final whistle. We need to learn from this and look to get better on Wednesday against Radford."
Scoring Summary
Liberty Goals: Grace Fletcher 2, Mackenzie Lehman 2, Mia Toscano 2, Leah Ruby 1, Lizzy Ferguson 1
Liberty Assists: Brooke Bryan 1, Leah Ruby 1
Furman Goals: Meagan Beal 3, Kyra LaMotte 2, Hannah Dintino 2, Lauren Farber 2, Avery McIlwaine 1
Furman Assists: Kyra LaMotte 2, Sydney McClure 2, Hannah Dintino 1, Avery McIlwaine 1
Goalkeepers
W: Meghan Deehan 1-2, seven saves
L: Jennifer Soriero 1-3, 11 saves
Turning Point
A 7-0 run by the Paladins in the first half helped them to victory. After Liberty's Mia Toscano (27:19) and Lehman (25:35) scored early to put the guests up 2-0, Furman rattled off seven unanswered goals in less than 10 minutes. During that run, Kyra LaMotte scored twice, and Lauren Farber buried two goals.
Dintino's first goal of the afternoon, assisted by Sydney McClure, pushed the lead to 7-2 with 15:23 remaining in the opening half.
First Half Summary
• Liberty's Soriero surrendered seven goals in the early going while only making one save over the first 14:37. In the final 45:23 of the game, the goalkeeper made 10 saves and gave up only three goals.
• Despite taking an 8-3 lead at the break, Furman only held a 16-15 edge in total shots. The Paladins controlled possession in the first frame with a 9-3 draw control advantage. Liberty was 0-of-7 on free-position attempts in the first half.
Second Half Summary
• Liberty's aforementioned 4-0 run in the second frame featured goals from Grace Fletcher, Lizzy Ferguson, Toscano and Lehman.
• The Lady Flames won five of the eight draw controls over the final 30 minutes.
Key Stats & Notes
• The two teams each recorded 26 shots in the game, with Liberty holding a 22-21 advantage in shots on goal. Liberty won the battle for ground balls (22-16) and caused turnovers (13-9) and also had a better clear percentage (.842) than Furman (.696).
• Furman connected on half (3-of-6) of its free-position shots, while Liberty only converted 30 percent (3-of-10) of its opportunities. The Paladins won 12 draw controls, compared to eight for the Lady Flames.
• Reigning ASUN Defensive Player of the Week Sarah Steenson notched her third straight game with three caused turnovers. Fellow defender Alexa Evernham also tallied three caused turnovers in the contest. Freshmen midfielders Olivia Glaze and Lehman both established career highs with three ground balls apiece.
• Through four games, Soriero has 41 saves, a .494 save percentage, a 10.50 goals-against-average, a team-high 24 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.
Up Next
• Liberty is set to face in-state foe Radford (0-3), Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Liberty Lacrosse Field.
• The Lady Flames are 3-0 all-time against the Highlanders, with the last meeting between the Commonwealth squads coming in 2018 in Liberty's final season in the Big South Conference. In that showdown (April 18, 2018), Liberty bested Radford 19-9 at Cupp Stadium in Radford, Va.
