Liberty University Club Sports
Miami University
Lady Flames dominate RedHawks in rematch of first ACHA DI national title in 2015
11/6/2021 10:27:00 AM | Women's D1 Hockey
On this weekend's road trip to Ohio and Michigan, Liberty University's three-time defending ACHA Division I national champion women's hockey team is playing the teams it defeated for its first two (of four) national titles — Miami (Ohio) University in 2015 and Adrian (Mich.) College in 2018.
Late Friday night against the host RedHawks, winners of three national crowns from 2014-2017, Liberty looked in championship form in an 11-2 rout.
"It was one of those games where our offense came alive," Lady Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "We have those games where we don't miss. They gave us a few odd-man rushes and special teams really hurt them. Our power play looked good, and our penalty kill, as well. Overall, it was really positive and I'm pretty optimistic."
After scoring its first seven goals at even strength, Liberty scored its last four on either a power play or a penalty kill, including shorthanded scores by graduate forward Vanessa DeMerchant off an assist from sophomore forward Carly Glover and by graduate forward Shelby Bradford assisted by graduate defenseman Sally Hoerr.
Junior forward Yannick Truter netted a power-play goal off assists from freshman forward Zosia Adamek and Bradford and Glover capped the scoring off assists from freshman forwards Haley Battles and Peyton Carle with the Lady Flames on a man advantage.
Liberty outshot the RedHawks, 50-20, for the game, but only led 2-0 by the end of the first period on goals by Adamek off assists from Battles and freshman defenseman Priscilla Ziefle and senior forward Linzy Jedrzejek assisted by Truter. However, the Lady Flames padded their advantage to 8-2 by the end of the second, with Battles scoring two of their first three goals off feeds from Carle and freshman defenseman Samantha Peebles on the first and sophomore goalie Kylie Mebs (18 saves) on the second.
Bradford netted her first goal off assists from Jedrzejek and Peebles before Jedrzejek scored from Peebles and Bradford. DeMerchant then recorded her first score, set up by Glover and senior defenseman Aislyn Stretch.
The Lady Flames (8-0) expect to be much more severely challenged when they travel to Michigan to take on the Bulldogs (6-0) on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
"It will be two undefeated teams playing for the No. 1 spot when the first (ACHA DI national) rankings come out next week," Lowes said, noting that Adrian is coming off series sweeps of Liberty's Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH) rivals Midland and Minot State. "(The Bulldogs have) proven to be the class of the ACHA this semester, so it will be a chance to go test ourselves."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
