Lady Flames advance to Atlantic Coast regionals with third-place showing in conference tournament

Saturday, April 12

Glen Allen, VA

8:30 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

Atlantic Coast Open

Liberty finished 5-3 and in third place out of six teams at the Virginia Conference Championships in Glen Allen, Va.

Lady Flames advance to Atlantic Coast regionals with third-place showing in conference tournament

4/17/2025 9:12:00 PM | Women's Ultimate

Seeded second, Liberty finished 4-1 in pool play and reached the championship match before losing to William & Mary and Virginia in the consolation final.

Liberty University's women's ultimate team qualified for the April 26-27 Atlantic Coast Regionals at Smith River Sports Complex in Axton, Va., for the ninth time in program history with one of the strongest showings to date, placing third at this past weekend's Virginia Conference Championships in Glen Allen, Va.

"We got great all-around team defense to make the podium," Lady Flames second-year Head Coach Bethany Weldy said, noting Kate Lyle made an amazing catch in the end zone for a clutch score and fellow freshman Mallory Hince played great defense throughout the event.

The Lady Flames, seeded second, finished 4-1 in pool play, trouncing No. 5-seeded Virginia Tech, 13-7, before upsetting No. 1 Virginia, 11-9. They proceeded to dominate No. 6 Virginia Commonwealth University, 11-2, before being upset by No. 3 William & Mary, 11-7.

Liberty received a first-round bye in bracket play and advanced to the championship game with a 10-8 semifinal triumph over No. 4 JMU. However, in the final, the Tribe again proved the Lady Flames' nemesis in a 10-7 setback that sent them to a second-place consolation final rematch with UVA, which prevailed, 13-4, to drop Liberty to third place.

Complete results are available online.

On March 21-22, the Lady Flames were seeded first out of six teams in the Atlantic Coast Open at the Smith River Sports Complex and went 4-0 in pool play before winning both their semifinal and championship games in the playoffs.

The Lady Flames opened pool play by dominating No. 5 Dickinson, No. 3 George Mason, and American's No. 6 B team by 15-0 finals before defeating No. 2 Richmond, 12-5. Then, in bracket play, Liberty again routed Dickinson, 15-2, before repeating its win over the Spiders in the final, 12-9.

"A successful end to another tournament weekend," Weldy said at the time. "Shout out to (graduate) Grace (Wilson) for getting a Callahan (interception in Liberty's end zone) and (freshman) Maddie (Clark) and (sophomore) Sarah (Dickerson) for making tough catches. Overall, it was a great team effort … as we held seed and secured first place."

Next weekend, the Lady Flames will return to Axton for the Atlantic Coast Regional Championships, where they will be seeded much higher than last season, when they came in at No. 14 and finished 15th.