Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Thursday, March 19
St. Louis, MO
9:00 PM EST
Liberty University Club Sports
3
vs
0
Niagara University
Lady Flames senior defenseman Emerson Oakes skates the puck into the offensive zone in Thursday night's 3-0 win over Niagara. (Photos by Isabella Schlösser)
No. 1 Lady Flames return to Final Four by closing floodgates on No. 8 Niagara
3/20/2026 9:43:00 AM | Women's D1 Hockey
The Lady Flames (35-0-1) extended their winning streak to 15 games with their third straight shutout of the Purple Eagles, advancing to Saturday’s 7 p.m. EST semifinal.
In Thursday night's final round of pool play at the ACHA National Championships in the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo., Liberty University's No. 1-ranked ACHA Division I women's hockey team posted its 20th shutout of the season against a familiar foe, No. 8-seeded Niagara University.
After winning the teams' four regular-season meetings by a combined score of 15-1, the Lady Flames (35-0-1) found themselves in a physical, defensive duel with the pesky Purple Eagles (11-12-2).
"It was very back-and-forth, but we do a good job in games like this," Liberty sophomore defenseman Jules Lefaive said. "We've seen Niagara, that was our fifth time, (and) we know it's going to be a good battle when we play them. They're a good team, they play up to us, but we're a team that's able to keep our composure in games like that, which is awesome."
Liberty, which outshot Niagara 60-13 on the night, broke through for the game's first goal with 1:58 remaining in the first period. Skating through the right crease, graduate forward Isobel Pettem-Shand deftly deflected Lefaive's shot from the right boards, with the puck trickling past Niagara goalie Mackenzie Addley into the back of the net for the eventual game winner.
Following a scoreless second period, the Lady Flames started the third on a power play. They maintained good pressure around Niagara's cage before Pettem-Shand and junior forward Sienna McClinchey nearly scored on back-to-back deflections of shots on net.
Then, with precisely 10:00 remaining in regulation, senior forward and alternate captain Haley Battles provided some insurance by taking a tapped pass from senior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes in the slot and ripping a wrist shot past Addley, doubling Liberty's lead.
"It was amazing," Lefaive said. "That was a gorgeous goal. We were up, and we knew we needed that security goal, and she got it done for us. It's Battles, and she always does."
Twenty seconds after Niagara pulled Addley, graduate forward and head captain Brielle Fussy put a finishing touch on the Lady Flames' 15th consecutive triumph when she received a crossing feed from junior forward Ellie Sarauer and unleashed a shot from the top of the right circle into the empty net with 43.5 seconds to play.
"That was awesome for her to get that," Lefaive said. "It was a really unselfish play by Ellie. She could have tried to take it herself, but she dished it off. We don't care who scores. We just want to be successful as a team."
Defensively, Liberty senior goalie Alex Keith made 13 saves to post her 12th shutout, the most among ACHA Division I netminders.
"We have a very strong goalie behind us, who we can attribute a lot of our success to," Lefaive said. "We're able to play in games like that because we know we have (Keith) behind us who is going to make big saves when we need them to keep us in games."
She said the captaincy corps of Fussy, Zosia Adamek, Battles, Oakes, and Keith have anchored the Lady Flames throughout the past two seasons that she has been on the team.
"They keep us up as a team," Lefaive said. "They hold us accountable, but they keep the energy up. We know when we need to get stuff done, they always step up."
Regardless of who the Lady Flames face in Saturday's 8 p.m. EST semifinal, in order to return to Sunday's 7 p.m. EST championship game, everyone will have to play their part.
"We just need to stay calm and keep playing our game," Lefaive said. "Liberty Hockey is Liberty Hockey, and we've been successful so far. We're going to do great whoever we play."
Midland (Neb.) University clinched its berth into Saturday's 5 p.m. EST semifinal game with a 1-0 overtime win over Adrian (Mich.) on Thursday. Friday's final pool play games with Final Four implications pit Arizona State against Maryville (Mo.) University at noon EST and the University of Jamestown (N.D.) against the University of Michigan-Dearborn at 3 p.m. EST.
All games are being streamed live on FloHockey.com.
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterGallery: (3-20-2026) Liberty vs. Niagara women's hockey
After winning the teams' four regular-season meetings by a combined score of 15-1, the Lady Flames (35-0-1) found themselves in a physical, defensive duel with the pesky Purple Eagles (11-12-2).
"It was very back-and-forth, but we do a good job in games like this," Liberty sophomore defenseman Jules Lefaive said. "We've seen Niagara, that was our fifth time, (and) we know it's going to be a good battle when we play them. They're a good team, they play up to us, but we're a team that's able to keep our composure in games like that, which is awesome."
Liberty, which outshot Niagara 60-13 on the night, broke through for the game's first goal with 1:58 remaining in the first period. Skating through the right crease, graduate forward Isobel Pettem-Shand deftly deflected Lefaive's shot from the right boards, with the puck trickling past Niagara goalie Mackenzie Addley into the back of the net for the eventual game winner.
Following a scoreless second period, the Lady Flames started the third on a power play. They maintained good pressure around Niagara's cage before Pettem-Shand and junior forward Sienna McClinchey nearly scored on back-to-back deflections of shots on net.
Then, with precisely 10:00 remaining in regulation, senior forward and alternate captain Haley Battles provided some insurance by taking a tapped pass from senior defenseman and alternate captain Emerson Oakes in the slot and ripping a wrist shot past Addley, doubling Liberty's lead.
"It was amazing," Lefaive said. "That was a gorgeous goal. We were up, and we knew we needed that security goal, and she got it done for us. It's Battles, and she always does."
Twenty seconds after Niagara pulled Addley, graduate forward and head captain Brielle Fussy put a finishing touch on the Lady Flames' 15th consecutive triumph when she received a crossing feed from junior forward Ellie Sarauer and unleashed a shot from the top of the right circle into the empty net with 43.5 seconds to play.
"That was awesome for her to get that," Lefaive said. "It was a really unselfish play by Ellie. She could have tried to take it herself, but she dished it off. We don't care who scores. We just want to be successful as a team."
Defensively, Liberty senior goalie Alex Keith made 13 saves to post her 12th shutout, the most among ACHA Division I netminders.
"We have a very strong goalie behind us, who we can attribute a lot of our success to," Lefaive said. "We're able to play in games like that because we know we have (Keith) behind us who is going to make big saves when we need them to keep us in games."
She said the captaincy corps of Fussy, Zosia Adamek, Battles, Oakes, and Keith have anchored the Lady Flames throughout the past two seasons that she has been on the team.
"They keep us up as a team," Lefaive said. "They hold us accountable, but they keep the energy up. We know when we need to get stuff done, they always step up."
Regardless of who the Lady Flames face in Saturday's 8 p.m. EST semifinal, in order to return to Sunday's 7 p.m. EST championship game, everyone will have to play their part.
"We just need to stay calm and keep playing our game," Lefaive said. "Liberty Hockey is Liberty Hockey, and we've been successful so far. We're going to do great whoever we play."
Midland (Neb.) University clinched its berth into Saturday's 5 p.m. EST semifinal game with a 1-0 overtime win over Adrian (Mich.) on Thursday. Friday's final pool play games with Final Four implications pit Arizona State against Maryville (Mo.) University at noon EST and the University of Jamestown (N.D.) against the University of Michigan-Dearborn at 3 p.m. EST.
All games are being streamed live on FloHockey.com.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Players Mentioned
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