Battles' third-period goals lift Lady Flames (16-0) to sweep of Saints, 5-3

Sunday, November 9

Lynchburg, VA

4:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Maryville University

Graduate forward and head captain Brielle Fussy skates past a Maryville defenseman Sunday at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Ted Allen)

Battles' third-period goals lift Lady Flames (16-0) to sweep of Saints, 5-3

11/9/2025 8:34:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Liberty overcame fatigue from its quick turnaround to stretch its winning streak to 26 games, still 31 short of the program record.

Brielle Fussy Liberty Maryville — Fussy gave Liberty a 3-2 lead midway through the second period that fellow graduate forward and alternate captain Haley Battles extended to 5-2 in the third.

Less than 14 hours after staging a 2-1 triumph over No. 4 Maryville (Mo.) University in the program's second Midnight Mayhem matchup, Liberty University's No. 2-ranked ACHA Division I women's hockey team completed a series sweep of the Saints with a 5-3 victory, Sunday afternoon at the LaHaye Ice Center. The series was a rematch of last spring's National Championship final, won by the Lady Flames for the seventh time in 11 years.

"(This game) was probably one of our biggest challenges to overcome this year so far, so it was really good to see us come out here strong and pull off two wins," graduate forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek said. "It's definitely competitive, and I love playing them. It's always a good game."

Liberty (16-0) scored goals early in all three periods to dictate the tempo of the contest. Just 41 seconds after the opening faceoff, Adamek won a right-circle faceoff in the offensive zone to fellow graduate forward Isobel Pettem-Shand along the right boards, where she sent a pass back into the circle to sophomore forward Haylee Lee. From there, Lee unleashed a shot that glanced off the glove of Maryville goalie Hannah Tresek inside the left post for a 1-0 lead at the 19:19 mark.

However, Maryville (4-6) tied it back up just 2:02 later when Aleiyah Sutton fired a shot through the slot past Liberty senior goalie and alternate captain Alex Keith off a rebound of Haley Beckett's driving shot, leveling the score at 1 with 17:17 still to play in the period.

Adamek, who netted the game winner earlier in the day, lifted the Lady Flames to a 2-1 lead just 23 seconds into the second period. She converted off an assist from her younger sister, junior defenseman Sophia Adamek, who skated the puck through the right circle before sending a crossing pass back to her sister in the slot for a finish inside the right post.

"We always seem to be on the same wavelength and know where each other is, so it's really nice to play with each other on the ice, especially creating those offensive zone goals," said Zosia Adamek, who had started the game playing on a different line. "(Head Coach Chris) Lowes mixed it up this week to give us some adversity and try some new things, and it worked out. It was good. I was with Hayley Lee and Pettem-Shand, and we scored on our second shift, so we started off hot, which was awesome."

The Saints re-tied the contest at 2 on a power-play goal by Emma Gerwitz assisted by Sutton and Alycia Ross at the 11:33 mark. But graduate forward and head captain Brielle Fussy put the Lady Flames back on top to stay with 9:14 to play in the period by receiving a feed from sophomore forward Brooklyn Voortman and skating into the right circle before sneaking a shot that glanced off Tresek's glove and bounced inside the right post.

Haley Battles Liberty break past Maryville — Graduate forward Haley Battles (12) skates by two Maryville players in the third period.

Back-to-back goals by graduate forward and alternate captain Haley Battles in the third period pushed Liberty's advantage to 5-2. First, she received a right-circle faceoff win by junior forward Tristan Craig in the slot and ripped a shot into the top-right corner of the cage at the 18:39 mark. Then, with the Lady Flames on the power play, Fussy sent a cross-ice pass from the right to the left circle where she skated in and finished with power and precision to the same corner for a commanding three-goal lead.

"Obviously, it was really nice to put up a 5 spot, and to get that power-play goal at the end," Lowes said. "We needed that. Battles had a really good end to the game, just kind of dialed it up. We needed that finish. It was a bit of a broken game, so it was good to get a little breathing room there because every time we scored, Maryville answered back."

The Saints did score one more goal on a power-play shot by Beckett that glanced off graduate defenseman Allison Shaw past senior goalie and alternate captain Alex Keith (24 saves). But Liberty's defense clamped down and kept them off the board the rest of the way, and Keith improved to 8-0 despite allowing more goals in one game than she had in seven previous starts, including five shutouts.

The Lady Flames outshot the Saints, 35-27, but Maryville won the special teams battle, capitalizing on two of their three power-play opportunities while holding Liberty to 1-of-4 in 5-on-4 situations.

"These were really good wins, against a really tough matchup for us," Lowes said. "They're good. They're a top-five team all day. They're a talented team, and the girls get excited to play them. It's a growing rivalry. There's a lot of mutual respect."

Liberty (16-0, winners of 26 straight) will host No. 12 UMass on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 12:30 p.m. before traveling to North Dakota to conclude fall semester action with two games against No. 5 Minot State and one against No. 13 Jamestown.

"We're just getting started," Lowes said. "We're leaning into our schedule now."

"We'll see how long we can go without a loss," Zosia Adamek said, noting the Lady Flames have a long way to go to eclipse their ACHA Division I-record 57-game winning streak snapped in January 2023. "We're hoping to get the No. 1 seed before Christmas."

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