Liberty University Club Sports
Indiana Tech
Lady Flames remain unbeaten as Storey posts sixth shutout of season at Indiana Tech
1/21/2022 11:40:29 PM | Women's D1 Hockey
Senior defenseman Aisyln Stretch netted her first two goals of the regular season to help Liberty University’s ACHA Division I women’s hockey team stretch its program-record winning streak to 32 games with a 3-0 triumph over Indiana Tech Friday night at the SportOne/Parkview Ice House in Fort Wayne, Ind.
In a defensive-oriented game that included a dozen blocked shots by the Warriors’ defense, both teams were held without a goal for the first 35 minutes and Lady Flames freshman goalie Amanda Storey went on to stifle IT for the final 25 minutes, making 13 saves in posting her sixth shutout of the season.
The Warriors (16-5-1), who rose three spots to No. 4 in this week’s ACHA DI national rankings in their first season as a program, weren’t able to stage an upset of top-ranked Liberty (17-0), the three-time reigning ACHA DI national champions.
“Our girls played a pretty solid 60 minutes,” Lady Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said. “They’ve got some strong players and we limited their chances as much as we could. (Storey’s) playing really well and she did have a couple good saves when we made some defensive mistakes.”
Moments after the teams traded penalty kills and seconds after sophomore forward Carly Glover had a shot in the slot clang off the post, Liberty ended a scoreless tie when freshman forward Haley Battles, sprawling across the left circle as she chased after the loose puck on the rebound, extended her stick to tap it back to Aislyn Stretch, who unleashed a one-timed slapshot that snuck under the blocker of freshman goalie Izzy Varner and inside the left post for a 1-0 lead with 4:30 left in the second period.
Freshman forward Brielle Fussy, who had three goals and an assist in the Lady Flames’ sweep of the Warriors on Oct. 22-23 at the LaHaye Ice Center, extended Liberty’s lead to 2-0 with 18:20 remaining in regulation by receiving a pass across the high slot from senior forward Yannick Truter, who had intercepted the puck near the blue line, and firing a shot past Varner inside the left post.
With just under five minutes to play, Stretch received an assist from graduate defenseman Dana McLeod and launched a rocket through traffic from the left point that whizzed past Varner for the final score.
“All of our goals came off really good looks — Ais (Stretch) from Haley (Battles) on a nice second effort, Brielle Fussy after a steal and a really good look from Yannick (Truter), and Ais again from Dana McLeod, who is one of our biggest weapons on the blue line and gave it up to her,” Lowes said.
He said the Lady Flames, who went 0-for-3 on the power play, will look to improve that area of their special teams in Saturday night’s rematch.
“I didn’t think our power play was very great tonight,” Lowes said. “They did a good job of getting in shooting lanes (but) there are ways to attack that we just aren’t seeing. We weren't firing in dangerous lanes.”
The Lady Flames will look to complete the series sweep when the puck drops at 8:30 p.m. back at the SportOne/Parkview Ice House, where Storey is expected to again start between the pipes.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
