Reigning DI national champion Lady Flames return to action Saturday at home against Pride

Liberty's 2023-24 roster includes 17 returning players from last season's national champions. (Photo by Chase Gyles)

Reigning DI national champion Lady Flames return to action Saturday at home against Pride

9/20/2023 9:36:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Liberty returns the majority of its starters from last year's team that won an ACHA-record fifth crown in a row.

Madison-Glynn — Madison Glynn skates against Adrian College last year. (Photo By Brooke McDuffee)

With only five new additions to Liberty University's five-time defending national champion ACHA Division I women's hockey team, a level of consistency and continuity gives the Lady Flames a major advantage as they begin the 2023-24 season against the Washington Pride this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the LaHaye Ice Center (LIC).

"We're returning a lot," Liberty seventh-year Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "I like our group. I like the kids we brought in and we bring back a veteran group that has shown that they know how to get it done. We return both our goaltenders from last year, and are only adding one defensemen and four forwards, including Madison Conley, a Division II call-up. So there is not a huge incoming class, and we are hopeful our evolution into a well-oiled machine will happen pretty fast."

The Lady Flames have two weekends to prepare for their ACHA DI opener, Oct. 6-7 against McKendree University, which ended their ACHA Division I-record 57-game winning streak last January. First, Hockey Training Institute (HTI) from near Toronto, Ontario, will visit Lynchburg, Va., for two more exhibition games next Thursday and Friday.

"We are excited to get out there to get the process started," Lowes said. "We anticipate that our vets will set the tone and the pace, but expect rookies to come in and contribute right away and get up to speed quickly and get that maturation process. It may be a slow build throughout the year, but if all goes well, we will be seeing constant improvement and if we do it right, we'll be peaking come March."

That will be after playing half of their 24 regular-season games at home and hosting the Women's Midwest Hockey Conference (WMCH) championships for the first time from Feb. 15-17 at the LIC, where they will be seeking their fourth tournament championship in the fifth season in the league.

The Lady Flames hope to ride momentum from that tournament into nationals, which will return to St. Louis, the site of the 2021-22 championships.

"We are quite familiar with what that will look like, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then," Lowes said. "As we begin our journey, we won't talk a lot about nationals, but everything we're working on is building toward that."

The upperclassmen and freshmen have blended well and found chemistry on the ice in the preseason.

"Our newcomers have had good skates so far in practice, and we've seen a lot we've liked out of all of them," Lowes said. "We've got vets everywhere, from (forward captains Rianna) Spanier, (Yannick) Truter, (Brityn) Fussy, and (Brielle) Fussy, (junior forward Haley) Battles and all down the line. We've got talent and we've got depth and girls we anticipate will take a step forward from last year. Not just the new additions, but others taking on new roles, earning more minutes and responsibility."

Defensively, the Lady Flames may be even deeper than on attack.

"We return the bulk of our D corps, and defense is certainly an area of strength for us," Lowes said, noting that he has his top two pairings back in juniors Peyton Carle and Madison Glynn; and senior Aislyn Stretch and sophomore Emerson Oakes.

Glynn was the MVP of the ACHA DI Championship Final near Boston after netting her first career hat trick in a 3-2 triumph over Minot State.

"You add (Samantha) Peebles, (Priscilla) Ziefle and rookie Sophia Adamak and you have lots of different combination options and we'll get to try some of those out this weekend," Lowes said.
In goal, the Lady Flames return senior Amanda Storey and sophomore Alex Keith.

"Storey's the vet there but we expect big things out of both of them," Lowes said. "Amanda's carried the workload over the past two years, but we feel good about either one of those ladies in there. Depending on their performance, there will be opportunities for both of them to earn the net and one of them to step up."

Lowes anticipates a stacked conference race this season, after the Lady Flames lost games against McKendree and Minot State, as well as Midland, which beat them in the WMCH Final last February in St. Louis.

"I have no idea what other teams did and who they brought in, which is what makes each new season fun," Lowes said. "You never know who's going to show up with what. Regardless of who we are playing, we'll take the season one week and one game at a time. Our focus is on what we're doing and who we want to become, not necessarily on the results. We expect every team's toughest challenge and we've got to be prepared for that, to continue to build on and defend what we did last year."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator