Lady Flames open Northeast road trip by powering past Rams; face UMass next

Thursday, November 14

Kingston, RI

1:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Rhode Island

Senior forward Bella Hervert scored the Lady Flames' first goal against Rhode Island midway through the first period. (Photos by Jessie Jordan)

Lady Flames open Northeast road trip by powering past Rams; face UMass next

11/15/2024 12:55:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Veterans led the way for Liberty's attack, with senior forwards Haley Battles and Brielle Fussy, who were selected to the U.S. women's team for the World University Games, scoring goals off of power plays.

Emerson-Oakes-celebration-line — Junior defenseman Emerson Oakes, shown leading the celebration line at the LaHaye Ice Center, assisted Hervert's goal at Rhode Island.

Liberty University's No. 1-ranked ACHA Division I women's hockey team outshot unranked Rhode Island by a commanding 82-6 margin, Thursday night at Boss Ice Arena in Kingston, R.I., but found itself tied at 1-1 after the first period before pulling away from the Rams, 6-2.

The Lady Flames (7-1), who came into the contest firing at a 38 percent success rate on the power play this season, converted the second of three chances on a 5-on-4 advantage, sparking the attack.

"Their goalie (Morgan Ainley) played very well, and we needed our power play," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said.
Senior forward Bella Hervert started the scoring by cashing in on a rebound off a shot from the point by junior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes at the 9:02 mark of the first period.

"We settled in a little bit after that, but had trouble finding the back of the net," Lowes said, noting that the Lady Flames outshot Rhode Island 31-3 in the first period but allowed the Rams to net the equalizer on a power play 47 seconds before the first intermission. "Despite a lot of time in their zone, we had trouble getting shots through."

In the second period, Liberty held a 21-1 shot advantage and stretched its lead to 3-1 on a shorthanded goal by senior forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek with 8:31 left and another unassisted goal by senior forward and head captain Brielle Fussy at the 5:16 mark, seconds after a power play expired. Then in the third, senior forward and alternate captain Haley Battles capitalized on a power play by putting away passes from senior defenseman Madison Glynn and sophomore defenseman Sophia Adamek 5:05 after the opening faceoff.

"We scored once on a power play and once right as another ended and that got us over the hump," Lady Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "We only had a couple of them as it was a pretty clean game, but we needed those power play chances to click. Our veterans stepped up and did all of the scoring."

Two and a half minutes later, Glynn made it 5-1 by finishing feeds from freshman forward Presley Ellis and senior defenseman Sammy Peebles. Rhode Island got one goal back before Fussy capped the scoring off assists from Battles and Zosia Adamek.

After starting graduate goalie Kylie Mebs between the pipes on Thursday, the Lady Flames will turn to junior Alex Keith in net for Friday's 6:30 p.m. opener against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the Mullins Center before playing freshman Brooklyn Adams in the blue ice for Saturday's rematch with the Minutewomen at 11:20 a.m.

Faceoff is set for 40 minutes before the Flames Football team's game at UMass-Amherst kicks off in nearby Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
"UMass is always a tough team, especially on the road," Lowes said. "It is a tough place to play, and playing on Olympic-sized ice changes the game, too. In the past, in the second game of road trips we have always looked a little more dialed in. Hopefully, we don't need 80 shots to score six goals again."

"We retained our No. 1 seed after a really good road trip (to St. Louis) last weekend," he added. "We know we're a big target and we've got to take care of business and put wins together."

On Thursday, the ACHA announced that Fussy and Battles were both selected to compete for the U.S. women's team in the Jan. 13-23 World University Games at Palatazzoli Pista in Torino, Italy.

The 23-player Team USA will compete in Group A alongside the Czech Republic, Japan, and Kazakhstan. Canada, Great Britain, Slovakia, and Taipei make up Group B. This marks the first time since 2019 and the seventh time overall that the ACHA will be sending a women's team to the Winter World University Games. The U.S. team won the bronze medal at the 2013 Games held in Trentino, Italy, and again at the 2017 Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer