Lady Flames win two of three games against U19 team from British Columbia

Friday, September 27

Lynchburg, VA

7:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Purcell Hockey Academy

Isabelle-Pelletier-Ellie-Sarauer breakout

Freshman defenseman Isabelle Pelletier, who scored a key goal against Purcell Acadcemy on Saturday, starts a breakout beside sophomore forward Ellie Sarauer, who scored the first goal Friday at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Jessie Jordan)

Lady Flames win two of three games against U19 team from British Columbia

9/30/2024 6:15:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Liberty rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Purcell Hockey Academy's Female Prep team 4-3 in overtime Saturday, but couldn't complete the sweep early Sunday morning.

Liberty University's ACHA Division I women's hockey team took two out of three games from Purcell Hockey Academy's U19 Female Prep team from Friday night through Sunday morning at the LaHaye Ice Center.

The Lady Flames (5-1) won the first two games by 4-2 and 4-3 scores before dropping Sunday's series finale, 3-1, to the team from British Columbia, Canada, coached by former Liberty standout forward Val (Manchak) Jensen ('21), a native of Ukraine.

Sophomore forward Ellie Sarauer started the scoring with 4:57 left in the first period of Friday night's opener, capitalizing on a power play by lifting a wrist shot from the top of the right circle through Purcell's defense and past goalie Anja Poulsen, a Denmark native.

Sarauer was tripped up on a breakaway opportunity less than two minutes later and the Lady Flames again converted on the man advantage when senior forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek received a pass from senior defenseman Sammy Peebles along the left boards and fed senior defenseman Peyton Carle in the left corner. Carle quickly sent an entry pass to junior forward Brookelyn Beauchamp in the left crease for a point-blank finish past Poulsen for a 2-0 lead at the 2:42 mark.

Adamek extended the edge to 3-0 with 17:24 to play in the second period, deflecting Peebles' shot from the top of the right circle off a Purcell defenseman and past Poulsen inside the right post. However, the visitors responded 18 seconds later, capitalizing on a turnover behind the Lady Flames cage with a finish in the left crease, and trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with a power-play goal at the 5:29 mark.

Adamek capped the scoring with 9:31 remaining in regulation, rifling a wrist shot on from the inside edge of the right circle past Poulsen into the top-left corner of the cage.

In Saturday's rematch, after having a power-play goal called off by an official's whistle, Liberty struck first seconds after the man advantage expired when Adamek received a give-and-go pass from sophomore forward Tristan Craig, cut through the right circle, and flipped a backhanded shot from in the slot inside the left post.

With the teams skating 4-on-4 late in the first period, Purcell netted the equalizer on a wraparound rebound with 31.9 seconds to go after being denied by Lady Flames junior goalie Alex Keith on a 3-on-1 fast break.

Early in the second period, Purcell seized its first lead of the series when Flóra Hanga Pàsztor, a forward from Hungary, capitalized on a power play by skating out of the right corner to finish with a shot in the right crease at the 18:20 mark. Pàsztor struck again three minutes later after a defensive breakdown by the Lady Flames, putting away a backhanded cross-crease pass from Vera Štástková of the Czech Republic for a 3-1 lead with 15:35 to play.

But Liberty showed its grit and perseverance in rallying from two goals down going into the third period, sparked by a sharp-angled shot by freshman defenseman Isabelle Pelletier from along the boards at the top of the left circle into the top-left corner of the cage past Purcell goalie Christina Stango at the 17:43 mark.

Senior forward and alternate captain Haley Battles converted the equalizer with 9:08 remaining in regulation, skating the puck from just across the red line into the offensive zone. After being confronted by a defenseman in the slot, Battles recovered the puck deep in the left circle and beat Stango from a sharp angle inside the right post.

That's how regulation ended, tied at 2-2, before the teams battled back and forth in 3-on-3 action in the five-minute overtime period, with senior forward and head captain Brielle Fussy spotting Sarauer for a fast-break finish for the game winner with 1:35 left.

Liberty scored first in Sunday morning's finale, with Fussy taking a long outlet pass from Battles at the red line before skating in and tucking away a one-on-one finish.

Purcell responded to tie the contest at 1-1 on a putback 1:02 into the second period before netting the game winner with 7:47 to play in the stanza on a redirect of a crossing pass in front that slipped through the five hole of Lady Flames freshman goalie Brooklyn Adams.

Liberty had a couple near misses on what would have been the tying goal around the Purcell cage before Pàsztor netted an insurance goal on a fast-break shot inside the left post, preventing the Lady Flames from completing the three-game sweep.

Liberty will have three and a half weeks to prepare for its ACHA-opening series at defending Division I national champion Adrian College on Oct. 25-26. The Bulldogs snapped the Lady Flames' ACHA-record streak of five consecutive national titles last March near St. Louis.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer