Senior forward Ellie Sarauer controls the puck along the boards in last February's series against Adrian College at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Emily Cuthrell)
Lady Flames complete sweep of host Bulldogs with 11-1 triumph
10/24/2026 2:26:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey
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Nine scorers contributed to Liberty’s highest offensive output of the season, which should help solidify its No. 2 ranking.
Liberty University's No. 2-ranked ACHA Division I women's hockey team added an exclamation point to its authoritative sweep of Adrian (Mich.) College with an 11-1 blowout of the Bulldogs, Saturday afternoon in the Arrington Ice Arena.
"It was a great second game all the way around," Lady Flames Assistant Coach Frank Keating said. "Everybody played well. We watched a little bit of film from (Friday night's 7-1 victory) and talked with the girls this morning, and they came out firing on all cylinders. They created a lot of opportunities and capitalized."
Graduate defenseman Hailey Terpstra started the scoring for the Lady Flames (7-2) by taking a short pass from sophomore right wing Chloe Moses after a faceoff win by graduate forward Allison Greene and launching a shot from the top of the right circle through traffic in front and past Bulldogs goalie Taylor Kincade for a 1-0 lead at the 17:20 mark of the first period. For Terpstra, who like Greene transferred from Indiana Tech over the summer, it was her first goal at Liberty.
Then, with 14:01 left in the opening period, the Lady Flames worked a beautiful low-to-high sequence to set up their second goal. Freshman defenseman Kendra Garlock received a lunging tap back pass from graduate forward and alternate captain Tristan Craig along the left boards and slung a shot that caromed off the nearside back boards and slid across the slot. Junior right wing Presley Ellis skated onto the puck and whipped a turnaround shot from the inside edge of the right circle just inside the left post for a 2-0 advantage.
Adrian (6-6) started mounting some pressure on Liberty's cage before the Lady Flames regrouped and capitalized on a fast-break scoring opportunity sparked by junior defenseman Brooklyn Voortman, who sent the puck from behind her own cage to freshman forward Evie McGonagle along the left boards. She in turn fed it to Craig who skated up the center of the ice, weaving between Bulldogs defensemen before ripping a driving shot from the left circle into the lower-right corner of the cage, stretching Liberty's lead to 3-0 with 5:34 left in the first period.Â
Then in the second, after a slower start, the Lady Flames erupted for four goals over the final 12:43 to extend their edge to 7-0. Greene, who won a left-circle faceoff after an icing violation against Adrian, started the scoring barrage by recovering a loose puck along the right boards and waltzing into the circle before unleashing a rocket of a shot into the upper-left netting to pad the lead to 4-0.
Less than a minute and a half later, graduate forward and alternate captain Brookelyn Beauchamp gathered the rebound of Terpstra's shot from the point behind the cage and was left unguarded as she skated into the right circle and lifted a sharp-angled wrist shot into the top-left corner of the net for a commanding 5-0 advantage.
In the closing seconds of a Liberty power play, McGonagle capitalized by receiving an assist from senior defenseman and head captain Sophia Adamek in the slot and threading a one-timed turnaround shot past Kincade to make it 6-0 at the 8:21 mark.
Less than two minutes later, pressure by Beauchamp and senior forward Ellie Sarauer forced a turnover in the Bulldogs' defensive zone and the two players worked a give-and-go pass sequence behind the cage before Sarauer sneaked a sharp-angled shot from the right boards inside the near post to push the edge to 7-0.
Beauchamp's second goal of the game, after a steal and finish from deep in the slot, extended the lead to 8-0 with 12:34 remaining in regulation before Adrian ended junior goalie Brooklyn Adams' shutout bid at the 5:56 mark. Bulldogs defenseman Nadia Nickel made a dazzling move through the slot before Sophie Kuzminski converted a putback in the right crease after Morgan Christopher initial shot was blocked by Adams.
However, the Lady Flames responded with a beautifully executed power-play goal on a tic-tac-toe pass sequence from Craig to Terpstra in the high slot back to Greene in the right circle, where she drove deep and across the slot before putting away her second goal of the game and fifth of the season with 5:06 to play.
Junior defenseman Jules Lefaive put Liberty into double digits in scoring at the 1:30 mark by taking a cross-crease pass from Adamek and lifting a backhand from the left crease into the top-right corner of the cage for a 10-1 advantage before junior forward Presley Ellis chased down a puck dumped behind the cage off a center-ice faceoff and wrapped a pass around the right post to junior forward Brooke Olson for a one-timed finish in the left crease to cap the scoring with 25 seconds left.
Liberty 43-22 and Adams made 21 saves to earn her second win of the season, maintaining her 1.00 goals-against average.
Liberty went 2-for-2 on its power-play opportunities and its penalty kill was also perfect, eliminating both of Adrian's 5-on-4 chances.
"This was much needed for the ladies' confidence, building across all 22 players," Keating said. "We really focused defensively trying to keep the puck in their end and made sure they didn't get any odd-man rushes and they didn't get any today, so that was really good."
The Lady Flames will next make the first of four trips to the St. Louis area in the 2026-27 season to face No. 12 Marysville University in Chesterfield, Mo., on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. EST and Friday at 4:15 p.m. EST. That series will be a rematch of Liberty's seventh national championship crown in 2025 in nearby Maryland Heights, Mo.
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterJunior forward Brooke Olson drives against Adrian College's Nadia Nickel in the teams' Feb. 13 matchup at the LaHaye Ice Center.
