One night removed from a rough loss, there was a period of time during Tuesday’s game against visiting Francis Scott Key that the Liberty boys lacrosse team again found itself behind and not in control.
That lasted 24 seconds.
After a quick Eagles goal and an ensuing faceoff win, the Lions got a save and quickly took the ball the other way, getting a tying goal from Jesse Jason. From there, Liberty put up five more goals in the first quarter and ran away with a 15-2 win.
“We’ve always been a team that fights,” Jason said. “After they hit the first one, we knew we had to rebound and just keep going, keep putting pressure on them.”
Jason scored four goals in the game, tying Jackson Wright for the team-high.
“I don’t think the two-side was there a lot of times, so the crease was wide open,” Wright said. “We had a lot of middies just cut to the crease and they were wide open. All of us are pretty good distributors so we were able to get them the ball.”
No one, though, was distributing as well as Jason. In addition to his goals, he also handed out five assists, a total that left him speechless when told about it. But ball movement is something that the Lions feel makes them a special team.
“We’re dangerous,” Wright said. “I don’t think it matters who we play, we’re always going to put some goals down when we get the ball on our side of the field and move it like we did today.”
Dylan Minnich, Aiden Ventura and Edwin Blyden all scored twice for Liberty with Jack DeMola also adding a goal. But while the offense was clicking, Minnich was quick to point out who the real stars of the game were, crediting the defense and goalie Jack Mancha.
“It was the defense today, that was the real strong point,” Minnich said. “They turned it around, made some huge plays today. Especially Jack. I don’t know how many saves he had, but, jeez.”
Eleven.
Mancha stopped 11 shots in three quarters in goal, including nine in the first half as Liberty (3-2) built an 8-1 lead. Many of his saves, such as the one early, turned into quick offensive chances.
“A good save leads to a good outlet pass, which leads to a good, quick possession,” Minnich said. “That’s something we like to pride ourselves on, we like to go quick. The more our defense is playing, the more the rest of our team is going to feed off that. It’s energy.”
“He was standing on his head,” Jason added about Mancha. “He’s been the rock on this team; he’s been consistent all year. In practice, he’s a leader.”
FSK got the first goal of the game from Gabe Dell and one early in the second half from Hayden Johns.
“There are little improvements to notice in our play game by game,” Eagles coach Connor Brown said. “But this is our fourth game, and in any game, too many mistakes and turnovers will lead to bad things the other way. Once we get the mistakes cleaned up, we will be a different team.”
Liberty also became a different team Tuesday. They lost by 10 to Oakdale one night earlier and were anxious to put that memory behind them.
“Yesterday we had a rough loss against Oakdale. … Today was a rebound game,” Jason said. “Everybody was focused up, ready to go. It was senior night, so we had a little bit extra emotion. We were executing all over the field.”
