Liberty junior goalie Alex Keith (back) is mobbed by teammates on the ice after the 2-1 double-overtime triumph over No. 2-seeded Maryville (Mo.) University. (Photos by Ted Allen)
Seventh Heaven: Lady Flames edge Saints 2-1 in double OT, celebrate ACHA DI national title in St. Louis
3/21/2025 5:45:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey
For the second day in a row, Liberty erased a 1-0 deficit, this time early in the third period, before topping Maryville early in the second 20-minute overtime.
"You play five periods of hockey and our girls were running on fumes, but they were resilient," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "Zosia (Adamek) just made a great play. You need a hero in overtime and that was Zosia."
Maryville (24-10-5) only became an ACHA Division I program in 2021, and Friday marked its first appearance in the championship game. Liberty (26-3) has frequented the final, winning its first in 2015 before proceeding to capture an ACHA-record five crowns in a row from 2018-23. After having that streak snapped by Minot State in the semifinals last season in double overtime, the Lady Flames' seventh national title ranks as one of their sweetest, after erasing a 1-0 deficit as they had in Thursday's 5-2 semifinal win over No. 4 Midland (Neb.) University."It was feeling all too reminiscent of last year," Lowes said of the 2-1 loss to the Beavers, "obviously, with different results. It's a big win for our program. They're all special, but this group had a really incredible year. There was something about this tournament. The Midland game was a grind and Maryville was the same, if not harder."
Backed by a loud student-body crowd from nearby Chesterfield, Mo., rallying in the Saints' offensive end, Maryville maintained the pressure throughout the majority of the second period. In the opening minute, the Saints nearly scored on a pass across the open slot from Sarah Brooks to Sydney Poisson, who lifted a backhanded shot over the goal guarded by Lady Flames junior Alex Keith.
Following a few more narrow misses, Maryville broke through with the game's first goal with 7:06 to play in the period when Haley Beckett rocketed a shot from the right circle into the top-left corner of the net off an assist from Brooklyn Gillings.
The Lady Flames attempted to mount a counterattack with their top line of Adamek and sophomore forward Ellie Sarauer, sparking a fast break and setting up senior forward and head captain Brielle Fussy's right-circle shot that veered wide. Later in the period, senior defenseman Sammy Peebles intercepted a clearing attempt in the high slot but had her wrist shot gloved by Maryville goalie Kaitlyn Cadrain.
Liberty went on the power play at the 17:11 mark of the third period when Beckett was called for boarding in the offensive corner. The Lady Flames capitalized with the equalizer seven seconds later when junior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes put away sophomore defenseman Sophia Adamek's pass from behind the cage with a low shot from deep in the left crease inside the right post.
"There were moments in that game where they could almost taste the victory," Lowes said. "For us to tie it up in the third and kind of hit the reset button was huge."
The play went back and forth for the next seven minutes before Liberty made a steal and started a fast break with freshman forward Tristan Craig and Haley Lee working a give-and-go pass sequence up the middle of the ice before Lee was taken down and crashed into the backboards after her shot from the left crease was blocked.
Senior defenseman Madison Glynn, trailing the play, lifted a follow from the high slot just over the cage before play was stopped and DI women's hockey athletic trainer Kira Turner and Club Sports Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Angie Witt attended to Lee, who suffered a lower-body injury but returned to the game.
After a scoreless first sudden-death 20-minute overtime period, the Lady Flames struck for the game-winner just 2:06 into the second when Zosia Adamek gathered the rebound off a perimeter shot by Glynn and made a phenomenal move with the puck. The championship final MVP reversed direction to shed a Saints defenseman at the top of the left circle before skating into the open circle and firing the game-winning wrist shot inside the left post, starting a spontaneous on-ice celebration.
"Zosia made a great play, and our vets led the way," Lowes said. "That's how college hockey works. You earn your stripes as an underclassman and then move up into leadership roles. Our leaders did a great job this year. Our young players were such a big part of our success, but that was only by following the lead of our vets.Glynn played a great game. She was a threat and played like a vet in her last national tournament. We needed heavy minutes out of her and a strong performance and she delivered."
The Lady Flames outshot Maryville 49-37, though the Saints held a 16-15 advantage in the two overtime periods. Keith made 36 saves for the win in her second national championship start.
"Both teams were scrappy, and the play was kind of back and forth, with lots of hold-your-breath moments," Lowes said. "Any time the puck was around our net, there were oohs and aahs. Big shout out to Alex Keith for an incredible performance in net. It was definitely one of the better games I've gotten to see Alex play in goal. She just looked really comfortable. They had a lot of quality chances, and she stayed calm and confident and looked like a vet."
Liberty entered Friday's championship game having won 10 of the 11 previous showdowns with the Saints. The Lady Flames swept a series at the LaHaye Ice Center against then-No. 1 Maryville on Nov. 1-2, starting with the first Midnight Mayhem matchup in program history, which they won 2-1 in overtime. A week later, Liberty defeated the Saints for a third time in the fall semester, 5-3 in the WMCH Showcase at the Maryville University Hockey Center, before losing their only game of the spring semester on Jan. 30 in Chesterfield, Mo.
Since then, Friday's final was the Lady Flames' 10th consecutive victory, including three in the WMCH Tournament and four at the ACHA DI National Championships.
"We won our last 10 games straight, playing good hockey and following our recipe for success," Lowes said. "We finished up the regular season by completing a sweep on Senior Night against Adrian and rode that momentum from there until now."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media, edited by Kylee Wright
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