Liberty Dominates Time of Possession to Defeat Jackets

The Jackets had success clearing against the aggressive ten-man ride from Liberty and was able to trade goals despite the Flames winning the majority of possessions.  The Jackets had several great scoring chances early, but left too many goals on the table.  The first quarter ended tied 3-3.

The second quarter saw the Flames take a 5-4 lead before the Jackets defense locked in and held the Liberty scoreless for the final ten minutes of the quarter.  The Jackets again had opportunities but could not capitalize on them before finally breaking through and tying the game.  The first half ended with the game tied at 5.

The opening stretch to open the second half would be crucial.  Unfortunately, the Flames grabbed the game in that stretch.  The Jackets had an opportunity for the first possession of the second half, but could not gather the ground ball and Flames got the ball to an open man on the backside who finished and put the Flames up 6-5 ten seconds into the quarter.  The Flames won the next faceoff, but the Jackets turned them away; however, the Jackets could not get the ball cleared and the Flames took advantage of the second chance opportunity to go up by 2.  The Flames would once again win the faceoff and take advantage of the extra possessions.  In all the Flames scored five goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter to blow open the game.  The Jackets got their first possession of the half with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.  The Jackets failed to score, but got the ball back in the ride and were able to capitalize.  The Jackets won the ensuing faceoff and scored again to bring the game to 10-7.  The momentum was short lived as the Flames dominated possession again for the rest of the quarter and took a 13-7 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Jackets got the first two goals of the fourth quarter to bring the game to 13-9 before the Flames answered back.  The Jackets closed to 14-10 and the Flames added an empty net goal late before the Jackets scored the final goal of the game to bring the final score to 15-11.

Tech will get no rest as they face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday.