Lady Flames’ attack fires on all cylinders in resounding sweep of Michigan

Sunday, January 18

Lynchburg, VA

1:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Michigan

Lady Flames junior defenseman Sophia Adamek, who netted a hat trick in Sunday's rematch, maneuvers the puck around a Michigan player in Saturday night's opener. (Photo by Simon Barbre)

Lady Flames’ attack fires on all cylinders in resounding sweep of Michigan

1/18/2026 7:50:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

Liberty opened the spring semester by netting 21 goals in in its two-games series against the Wolverines.

Three of the brightest stars on Liberty University's ACHA Division I women's hockey team shined in Sunday afternoon's rematch with the University of Michigan, a 12-3 triumph that matched the goal differential from Saturday night's 9-0 shutout victory.

Lady Flames junior defenseman Sophia Adamek netted a hat trick and added an assist while head captain Brielle Fussy totaled two goals and four assists, and fellow graduate forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek contributed one goal and one assist, setting up her younger sister's third goal late in the third period.

"Sophia's a special hockey player," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "For a defenseman to have that kind of offensive production and a game like she did is really cool. I've only been a part of a couple of hat tricks by defensemen in my career, but she deserves it. She works really hard, and we're just happy to see her hard work paying off."

Liberty capitalized on all three of its power-play opportunities and improved to 22-1 and 16-0 in the LaHaye Ice Center with the lopsided sweep of the Wolverines (8-6-2).

"We're really excited," Lowes said. "We had a really good weekend and really good first week back, too, getting back into practice. Execution was good, energy was good, so that's a winning combination."

Offensively, the Lady Flames generated plenty of momentum to take with them into next weekend's three-game series in the St. Louis area.

"This weekend, our offensive firepower was one of the big wins," Lowes said. "We showed a lot of finish and had some really pretty execution, especially on our odd-man rushes. Just the depth in scoring, the number of different people that were on the game sheet this weekend, was really impressive."

Sophia Adamek started the scoring by taking a short pass from sophomore forward Presley Ellis and launching a shot from the top of the right circle. The shot deflected off the stick of a Michigan defenseman up into the back of the net to lift the Lady Flames to a 1-0 lead at the 15:57 mark.

Less than two minutes later, with Liberty on a power play, senior forward Brookelyn Beauchamp doubled the advantage by shoveling in a second putback of graduate defenseman Sammy Peebles' shot from the left point.

Fussy distributed the second of her four assists on the afternoon with a beautiful outlet pass to graduate defenseman Allison Shaw up the left wing. Shaw skated the puck through the left circle before ripping a bar-down wrist shot over the shoulder of Wolverines goalie Emma Johns for a 3-0 advantage.

The Lady Flames added two more goals in the final two minutes of the first period to all but put the sweep on ice, leading 5-0.

First, after a narrow miss from close range by graduate forward and alternate captain Haley Battles, Zosia Adamek gathered the loose puck and skated into the slot before sneaking a top-shelf shot past Johns.

Just 34 seconds later, junior forward Ellie Sarauer pounced on a puck cleared out by senior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes after a faceoff win by Beauchamp on the defensive end. She accelerated with the puck along the left wing before sending a crisp cross-crease assist to Fussy trailing through the right circle for a one-timed finish.

Sophomore defenseman Brooklyn Voortman started the second-period scoring by netting her second goal of the series with a howitzer from near the blue line. The shot veered past Zosia Adamek into the top-right corner of the cage for a 6-0 advantage.

Then, with the Lady Flames back on the power play with 9:09 left in the period, Sophia Adamek netted her second score on a sharp-angled shot from the left circle, off an assist from Fussy, to stretch the lead to 7-0.

Freshman goalie Emma McDonald (17 saves) had her shutout bid ended with 2:46 left in the second period before Liberty outscored the Wolverines 5-2 in the third period to put an exclamation point on the lopsided sweep.

Fussy started the scoring in the final stanza by beating Johns from behind the right endline, threading a shot off her right pad through the five hole to make it 8-1 with 13:53 to play. The Lady Flames then capitalized on their third and final power-play opportunity when Sophia Adamek sent a pass across the high slot to Sarauer for a low slapshot that sneaked past Johns inside the left post. That ended the day for the Michigan net-minder, who was replaced by first-game starter Avery Schiff.

The Wolverines answered with two goals over the next five minutes, cashing in on their only power-play opportunity on the second, to trim the deficit to 9-3. However, the Lady Flames ended any thought of a comeback by netting back-to-back goals of their own against Schiff over a span of 16 seconds. Sophia Adamek completed her hat trick with a rocket of a wrist shot from the right circle into the top-left corner of the cage off an assist from her older sister. Ellis then finished a fast-break give-and-go pass sequence from junior forward Tristan Craig for an insurmountable 11-3 edge.

Graduate defenseman Sammy Peebles capped the scoring unassisted on a drive from the red line into the slot, finished with a wrist shot over the glove of Schiff with 2:59 remaining.

Liberty will travel to McKendree (Ill.) University on Thursday before playing two more WMCH opponents — Midland (Neb.) University on Friday and Minot State (N.D.) University on Saturday at the Maryville (Mo.) University Hockey Center. That will be the site of Sunday's WMCH All-Star Game, in which the Lady Flames will be represented by six players.

"Next weekend, we've got three really tough regular-season games against nationals teams and conference opponents," Lowes said. "It will be a really good test early in the semester."

Liberty will play five of its last nine games on the road — including two games against Maryville back in Chesterfield, Mo., for a Feb. 6-7 rematch of last season's seventh national championship win over the Saints. The Lady Flames will then travel to Midland, Neb., for the Feb. 19-21 WMCH Championships and to Maryland Heights (Mo.) for the March 17-22 ACHA DI National Championships.

"This semester's going to go really fast," Lowes said. "It's going to be playoff time in no time."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer