Lady Flames overwhelm Rhode Island in series opener, 8-0

Friday, October 10

Lynchburg, VA

7:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Rhode Island

Graduate forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek breaks out in an early-season game at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photo by Simon Barbre)

Lady Flames overwhelm Rhode Island in series opener, 8-0

10/10/2025 11:27:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Liberty outshot the Lady Rams by a staggering 98-6 count to make light work for freshman goalie Emma McDonald, who posted her first shutout.

Seven-time national champion Liberty University's ACHA Division I women's hockey team dealt Rhode Island a demoralizing 8-0 defeat in the Lady Rams' season opener, Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center.

The Lady Flames (7-0) held an astounding 98-6 shot advantage for the contest and opened a 5-0 lead after the first period.

"We're playing good hockey right now, especially for early in the season," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "That's Rhode Island's first game; we're seven games in. We know we've got a talented squad. We were firing on all cylinders and obviously got the game off to a really good start. We got them off the bus and got control early."

Freshman goalie Emma McDonald recorded her first shutout as a member of the Lady Flames, in her second start and first against an ACHA opponent.

"I was really happy for her to get in," Lowes said. "She's earning her stripes and kind of finding her legs. She's a good athlete. She's been battling hard in practice and she earned this start today."

Liberty provided plenty of offensive support for McDonald, sparked by head captain Brielle Fussy, who started and ended the first-period scoring with even-strength goals. She received assists from fellow graduate forward Zosia Adamek, an alternate captain, on the first goal and junior forward Ellie Sarauer on the first goal and sophomore defenseman Isabelle Pelletier on the fifth.

In between, senior forward Brookelyn Beauchamp finished feeds from graduate forward Isobel Pettem-Shand and graduate defenseman Sammy Peebles, freshman Chloe Moses scored unassisted, and junior defenseman Sophia Adamek converted off assists from junior forward Tristan Craig and graduate forward and alternate captain Haley Battles.

"I thought we showed some scoring touch," Lowes said. "We controlled the pace of play and possession and shots. Their goalie played well. Actually, she deserves a ton of credit just to be battling, and their whole team did a good job. We were pretty relentless and had a lot of offensive zone time."

Two of the Lady Flames' final three goals came off the power play, with Battles slamming home a short pass in the left crease from Pettem-Shand with 2:19 left in the second period and a man advantage and Sarauer finishing feeds from both Adamek sisters with 31 seconds before the second intermission.

"Battles had a really good game for us," Lowes said. "With her quarterbacking the power play, she looked really patient and confident, and 5-on-5, her and her line were really dangerous. It was good to see her get rewarded and that little touch play, give-and-go with her and Iso (Pettem-Shand) on the power play was very nice."

With the Lady Flames back on the power play, Pettem-Shand capped the scoring by putting away passes from Fussy and Peebles at the 17:11 mark of the third period.

"Power play looked good for early in the year, and we're a pretty deep offensive team," Lowes said. "It's not just our forward lines. Our (defensemen) can contribute, they can possess the puck. Right now, we've shown that we've got the ability to put a lot of dangerous pucks on net and show a little bit of finish."

He said Liberty's three defensive pairings are starting to click as well as the Lady Flames' four offensive lines.

"(Junior) Brooklyn (Voortman, a former forward) is three to four games into her D swap, playing with Pelletier," Lowes said. "We ran six (defensemen) pretty consistently tonight and we've got confidence in them all. It's just that part of the season where we're building confidence and finding chemistry and we're finding it a little earlier this year, partly because we're such a veteran group."

The teams will return to the LIC on Saturday for the series finale with the puck set to drop at 4:30 p.m. and the action streamed live by the Liberty Broadcast Experience (LBX).

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