DII Lady Flames dominate Rowan in ACHA-opening series on home ice

Friday, September 29

Lynchburg, VA

1:15 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Rowan University

Liberty junior forward Laura Arfstrom battles for the loose puck in the blue ice in front of freshman forward Kathryn Kornek. (Photos by Kendall Tidwell)

DII Lady Flames dominate Rowan in ACHA-opening series on home ice

10/2/2023 6:03:00 PM | Women's D2 Hockey

Liberty made a statement with its 6-0, 5-0 sweep of the Profs, the team that kept them out of nationals last March.

After missing the ACHA Division II national championship field last March when Rowan University bumped it out of the final spot in the Southeast Region rankings, Liberty University's ACHA Division II women's hockey team staged a resounding 6-0, 5-0 sweep the DVCHC rival Profs in this past weekend's season-opening series at the LaHaye Ice Center.

The Lady Flames (2-0) outshot Rowan by a 78-12 margin in Friday afternoon's opener and by a 49-14 count in Saturday's rematch, thoroughly dismantling the Profs' defense.

"We definitely wanted to win these games and we definitely started off on the right foot," Liberty Head Coach Rena Leone said, noting that it was a good weekend for several recruits to test the waters. "We have, not a young team, but girls are still getting used to playing with each other and it was a great weekend for getting that chemistry going, a great opportunity to start working on our forward play."

She noted that the Lady Flames' scoring was evenly distributed between all of their front lines and defensive corps.

Sophomore defenseman Katrina Walhof scored Liberty's second and sixth goals and freshman defenseman Julieann Nye netted the third and fifth on Friday, when junior defenseman Madison Natter assisted the third and fourth scores and junior center Madison Gaddy assisted on the fifth and sixth.

Sophomore forward Brylie Beddell started the scoring just 14 seconds after the season-opening faceoff, finishing feeds from junior forward Isabel Gracia and Nye, and Walhof tallied her first goal just 44 seconds later off an assist from sophomore center Isabel Crossman before Nye sandwiched second- and third-period scores around a fourth goal by freshman forward Gabrielle Moss.

In Saturday's rematch, five different players scored goals as the Lady Flames opened a 5-0 lead by the end of the second period, capped by Nye's final score with 26.9 seconds left in the period.

DII-womens-hockey-celebration — Guinivere Donovan is greeted by goalie Abby Hodsden after scoring early Saturday.

Sophomore forward Guinivere Donovan started the scoring just 1:27 after the opening faceoff before Walhof tallied her third goal of the series at the 10:05 mark. Beddell opened the second-period scoring before senior defenseman Brynlee Anderson padded the lead to 4-0 off an assist from senior wing Hunter DiGrazia.

Sophomore goalie Abby Hodsden and senior goalie Kylie Mebs posted shutouts on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Lady Flames will host another DVCHC foe, Maryland, this Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 1:15 p.m.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media