Women's Lacrosse 4/17/2018 10:30:00 AM

LIBERTY COMES TO CUPP FOR BATTLE OF THE BLUE RIDGE

Follow @RadfordWLAX

GAME INFORMATION

SETTING THE STAGE

Radford has a chance to clinch a spot in the 2018 Big South Championships, which will feature the top six teams in the conference standings
The third and fourth seeds will host the fifth and sixth seeds in the Big South Quarterfinals, so the Highlanders (2-3) will need to move past Campbell (3-2) and perform better than Longwood (2-3) to host the program's first postseason game at Cupp Stadium
Liberty (4-1) will present a tough challenge, but as Radford's biggest rival, fans can expect a great game

SERIES HISTORY

Liberty has defeated Radford in both previous meetings, but the Highlanders showed big-time improvements last season when they only lost, 10-13
Emma Rogers and Juliette Ruland have scored in both games against the Flames, but Adrian Rius leads the team with five goals
Jenny Davis tied the school record with 18 saves against Liberty last season

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 5-9, 2-3 Big South | RPI: 89
Radford is coming off a 1-1 week that featured a 22-14 victory at Gardner-Webb and a 12-17 loss at Campbell
Adrian Rius (10 goals, 1 assist, 21 draw controls) and Callie Bonnel (9 goals, 6 assists) each had fantastic weeks
Currently sitting at 99, Rius needs only one more goal to become the first Highlander with 100 goals in her career. Bonnel is just behind her with 91 career goals
Hannah Rosen came off the bench 15 minutes into Radford's win at GWU last Wednesday and has played every minute since. Over her last 105 minutes in the cage, she has made 22 saves and accumulated a .468 save percentage
Defender Shea Swingle and midfielder Brittany Rinaldi each rank top-10 in the Big South for ground balls per game with 2.54 and 2.14 respectively. Swingle is also fourth in the conference with 1.77 caused turnovers per game
Bonnel leads the Big South with 20 free position goals this season
Radford picks up 20.79 ground balls per game, good for 22nd in the nation
The Highlanders represent one of 16 teams in the nation causing 11 or more turnovers per game

SCOUTING THE FLAMES

Record: 11-4, 4-1 Big South | RPI: 41
Liberty was picked to finish fourth in the Big South preseason poll, but currently sits tied for second with two games left to play
Sophomore midfielder Carly White and junior attacker Kayla Foster were named to the Big South preseason all-conference team
The Flames are on a two-game win streak with victories over Longwood (22-7) and Winthrop (12-11) last week
Foster leads the team with 51 points on 19 goals and 32 assists. She has also tallied 63 draw controls, 26 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers
Redshirt senior attacker Michaela Rich and junior midfielder Brianna McCaffrey have 28 goals/15 assists and 35 goals/6 assists respectively to help facilitate the offense
Junior goalies Aubrie Tarris and Katherine Widrick have split time in the cage with both playing in all 15 games so far. They have combined for 132 saves, 142 goals allowed and a .482 save percentage
With 24.40 ground balls per game, the Flames rank second in the nation behind only Cincinnati (27.31)
Liberty also ranks 19th in the nation for scoring defense with only 9.47 goals conceded per game
Halftime adjustments have been key to their defensive effort. The Flames have given up 87 first half goals, but only 55 second half goals this season
Out of all 115 teams in the country, Liberty commits the third-most fouls with 29.47 per game

UP NEXT

The Highlanders host Presbyterian for the final game of the regular season on Saturday, April 21 at Noon
The Blue Hose are 2-13 overall and 0-5 in conference play before taking on Gardner-Webb this Wednesday at 5 p.m.

For the latest on Radford Athletics, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Highlander Happenings.

Players Mentioned