Lady Flames building on dynasty, tame four-time champion Lions in opener, 8-0

Friday, October 17

Lynchburg, VA

7:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Lindenwood

Lady Flames building on dynasty, tame four-time champion Lions in opener, 8-0

10/17/2025 11:17:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

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Winners of seven ACHA DI national titles in the past 11 seasons, Liberty’s No. 1-ranked women’s hockey team improved to 9-0 with a dominant win over Lindenwood (0-8).

It's been nearly 15 years since Lindenwood (Mo.) University's ACHA Division I women's hockey team won the last of its four national championships (2006, 2009-11). Since then, Liberty University has captured an ACHA-best seven crowns (2015, 2018-19, 2021-23, 2025), and it is establishing itself as the early favorite to claim an eighth title next spring in the Lions' home arena, the Centene Community Ice Center near St. Louis.

On Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center, the Flames netted five goals in the third period to break open an 8-0 victory in the series opener, improving to 9-0 while dropping Lindenwood to 0-8. Liberty had seven different goal scorers and outshot the Lions by a 67-13 margin as senior goalie Alex Keith made 13 saves to post her fourth consecutive shutout.

"In the end, we didn't take a penalty today and that really helped us," Lady Flames graduate forward and alternate captain Haley Battles said.

Liberty struck first on a putback by Battles off assists from junior defenseman Sophia Adamek and freshman forward Chloe Moses with 13:50 to play in the first period.

"Sometimes we've just got to throw it at the net, especially when there are a bunch of bodies in front, and get the shovels out," Battles said.

Then at the 9:31 mark, the Lady Flames improved to 9-for-13 on the season on power-play conversions when Adamek skated through the left circle and spotted her older sister — graduate forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek — cutting down the slot for a top-shelf finish and 2-0 advantage.

Midway through the second period, graduate forward Isobel Pettem-Shand cleaned up a loose puck deep in the left crease, following sophomore forward Presley Ellis' initial shot in front, to stretch Liberty's lead to 3-0.

Liberty needed just over seven minutes in the third period to double its scoring output, sparked by junior forward Ellie Sarauer's rocket of a shot from deep in the left circle that beat Lindenwood goalie Erica Didocha (59 saves) to the top-left corner and ricocheted off the back bar and out of the cage, making it a 4-0 game at the 15:55 mark.

Just over two minutes later, after sophomore forward Brooklyn Voortman's batted putback finish of junior forward Tristan Craig's lunging backhand in front was called a high-sticking violation, senior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes launched a shot from the left point through traffic in front to stretch the edge to 5-0.

"That was a great shot by her, low glove-side," Battles said. "That's what we tell our D to do. We want to get in front of the net, but we want to make sure they're low so we can screen the goalie and not part the seas."

Less than a minute after that, sophomore forward Brooke Olson punched in Battles' beautiful backhanded feed out of the left corner for a point-blank putaway and 6-0 advantage.
Then, with 5:26 remaining in regulation, senior forward Brookelyn Beauchamp received feeds across the slot from Pettem-Shand and graduate defenseman Allison Shaw and one-timed a top-shelf finish from deep in the right crease.

Finally, with 53 seconds to go, Battles capped the scoring with her second goal of the night off assists from Moses and sophomore defenseman Jules Lefaivre.

"That was actually a great shot by Jules," Battles said. "She actually didn't get her first shot through, but she stuck with it and got her second shot through. It kind of bounced out and Chloe stayed in front for a great screen. I couldn't even see the goalie, couldn't see the net, I just put it on net. Chloe had a great screen, and I was able to finish."

The Lady Flames finished with a flurry after a fiery motivational pep talk from Head Coach Chris Lowes during the second intermission.

"Coach (Lowes) really knows what to say to get a fire under us, so that we can just go out there and do what we know how to do," Battles said. "We just needed to focus on our simple things, focus on what we have been doing in practice, and feeding off each other with good communication. We moved the puck decently well, especially toward the end of the period."

She hopes Liberty can maintain its mental focus and capitalize on its shots from the perimeter and on the fast break in Saturday's 4:30 p.m. rematch back at the LIC.

"It's just continuing to focus on those little things, getting the puck deep and making sure that we have a strong F1, have that F2, get an F3 high, and keep shooting the puck," Battles said. "That's our big area of emphasis for (Saturday), just to shoot, get the pucks through, keep them low and then have screens in front. We have a fast team and sometimes we don't need to do a million stick handles to go around a D, we just have to put our head down and just go around and look for an open girl or just put it on net."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer