Liberty freshman defenseman Tarin Perez hoists the ACCHL trophy after Sunday's win over William & Mary (left); senior forward Zach Lemons celebrates a goal in Saturday's semifinal victory over Rowan College.
DIII Flames repeat as ACCHL champions, secure No. 1 seed for AAU nationals in Florida
3/2/2026 1:01:00 PM | Men's D3 Hockey
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Liberty stretched its winning streak to 14 games and improved to 14-0 on its home ice this season by outscoring its three opponents, 22-3.
Liberty University's Division III men's hockey team, the No. 1 team in the nation in the AAU D3 rankings, routed No. 28-ranked Catholic (D.C.) University 13-1 in Friday's quarterfinals and No. 8 Rowan (N.J.) College 6-1 in Saturday's semifinals before defending its ACCHL Tournament championship with a 3-1 win over No. 9-ranked College of William & Mary, Sunday afternoon in the LaHaye Ice Center.
"They did a good job, and I was proud of the guys," Flames Head Coach Josh Wagner said. "We didn't play quite to our full potential, but we played hard and got the win."
He said the Tribe (12-5) put up a good fight in the final, which wasn't clinched until senior forward Zach Lemons scored an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining in regulation.
The Flames had swept a regular season series against William & Mary by 6-1 and 8-0 scores on Oct. 25-26 at the LIC.
"They were a better team than we were expecting," Wagner said. "We had a lot of opportunities to score, and at the end of the game, (the tournament director) gave their goalie (Camden Siwik) the MVP because he had 50 saves."
Liberty (21-2) outshot William & Mary by a 53-25 margin and Flames junior goalie Trey Tompkins made 24 saves to earn the victory in net.
Graduate forward Roman Lamoureux started the scoring by finishing feeds from freshman forward Luke Kim and sophomore forward Aiden Hannegan with 16:38 left in the first period.
After the Tribe tied the contest on an unassisted goal by Jared Kensick at the 4:37 mark, senior forward Kelly Stroik netted the eventual game winner off an assist from Lemons with 2:20 still to play in the first period.
Head Coach Josh Wagner peers from the bench during and prays with the Flames after Sunday's ACCHL final against William & Mary.
Liberty will leave next Tuesday for Jacksonville, Fla., site of the AAU D3 National Championships where it will be seeded No. 1 and face No. 16 Alvernia (Pa.) University in the quarterfinals on March 11 at 10:15 a.m.
Last year, the top-seeded Flames defeated Alvernia in pool play before losing to sixth-seeded St. John's Fisher (N.Y.) University, 3-2, to narrowly miss reaching the Final Four.
Should the Flames defeat Alvernia, they would face the winner of another quarterfinal matchup between No. 8 Le Moyne (N.Y.) College and No. 9 High Point (N.C.) University, a team they swept by 6-2 and 8-0 scores Nov. 21-22 in Winston-Salem, N.C. That semifinal round game would be played on March 13 before the championship is set for March 15 at 1 p.m.
"The guys were very excited to win the conference tournament, but I have never seen a group more dialed in to win at nationals," Wagner said.
After graduating 11 seniors off last season's squad, the Flames feature a more balanced mix with five seniors and two graduate students on a 30-man roster.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
