Lady Flames triple up Washington in season-opening sweep at the LIC

Saturday, September 12

Lynchburg, VA

9:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Washington Pride

Lady Flames DI womens' hockey vs. Pride post-game

Lady Flames players line up to thank the officials after completing the post-game handshake line with members of the Washington Pride U19 team late Saturday night at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Ted Allen)

Lady Flames triple up Washington in season-opening sweep at the LIC

9/13/2026 4:42:00 PM | Women's D1 Hockey

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After its 3-1 and 6-2 victories over the U19 Pride, Liberty has nearly a month to prepare for its first road trip to New England.

Alex Keith save vs. Washington Pride — Graduate goalie Alex Keith, with defensive support from Jules Lefaive (76) and others, made 26 saves in the Lady Flames' 3-1 first win.

Graduate forward and alternate captain Brookelyn Beauchamp netted a hat trick and junior forward Hayley Lee distributed three assists to ignite the attack for Liberty University's ACHA Division I women's hockey team in Sunday's 6-2 triumph over the Washington Pride U19 team at the LaHaye Ice Center.

The Lady Flames (2-0), runners-up in last season's ACHA DI National Championships, began their quest for an eighth title with a sweep of the Pride, following Saturday's 3-1 late-night opener.

"It was a good opening weekend for us against a familiar opponent," Liberty 10th-year Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "I liked what I saw for our first look. We've got a bunch of new faces. Today was a better look than (Saturday), which is what we want to see, that progression and improvement from game to game."

Allison Greene shut down by Washington goalie — Graduate forward Allison Greene (22), who scored her first two goals for the Lady Flames after transferring from Indiana Tech, has her shot blocked by Washington Pride goalie Maya Brenner as senior forward Ellie Sarauer (8) trails the play.

The Lady Flames' penalty kill unit was successful on all 12 of its attempts (six in each game), and graduate goalie Alex Keith made 26 saves in the first game before junior Emma McDonald made 18 saves as the Lady Flames outshot the Pride, 40-20.

"Both our goalies got some touches," Lowes said. "(On Saturday), we gave way too many good opportunities, breakaways, odd-man rushes, and mistakes by our team. We left Alex on an island a bit, and she locked down, and Emma had a good showing today, especially against their power play. They had some girls that were dangerous, and they have some speed, and we had to be on our toes to defend them."

Sophomore forward Presley Ellis skates past defender — Sophomore forward Presley Ellis netted the Lady Flames' first goal against Washington in Saturday's opener.

Junior forward Presley Ellis struck first on Saturday night when she received a short pass from senior forward Sienna McClinchey on an offensive zone faceoff and quickly pivoted and lifted a wrist shot from deep in the right circle over the glove of Washington goalie Maya Brenner into the upper netting at the 10:47 mark of the opening period.

Pride forward Carina Prantner netted the equalizer by sneaking a shot past Keith with 4:25 left in the first period. Then, early in the second, Keith saved a deflected shot from the point before denying Lauren Smith's breakaway backhand attempt. She stopped another fast-break odd-man rush attempt by Ellie Crossett before Crossett was called for tripping, putting Liberty on a power play.

"Alex is a rock back there, and she lets us play with the utmost confidence when she's in the net and she's there leading from behind," senior defenseman and first-year head captain Sophia Adamek said. "Her being kind of the quarterback back there allows us to play more freely and play our systems better."

Evie McGonagle crossover before breakaway — Freshman forward Evie McGonagle prepares to skate the puck around Campbell Walker before scoring an insurance goal on a breakaway.

Just over a minute into the man advantage, the Lady Flames capitalized on the go-ahead goal when graduate forward Allison Greene — a transfer from Indiana Tech along with graduate defenseman Hailey Terpstra — scored on a shot from deep in the right circle off a power-play assist from Beauchamp.

The Lady Flames were unable to capitalize on power-play opportunities at the end of the second period and start of the third, but they added an insurance goal on a spectacular breakaway move and finish by freshman forward Evie McGonagle. She received a feed from Ellis and threaded her way through defensemen at the red and blue lines before skating in and beating Brenner into the upper netting for the final score with 8:53 left in regulation.

Evie McGonagle crashes Pride net — McGonagle crashes the net flanked by graduate forward Brookelyn Beauchamp, who netted a hat trick in Sunday's rematch.

"McGonagle pulled a nice little toe drag and finished with a forehand snap shot top-shelf," Lowes said.

Graduate forward Tristan Craig started the scoring in Sunday morning's rematch by finishing the first of three assists from Lee with a secondary feed from junior defenseman Brooklyn Voortman just 2:23 after the opening faceoff. Then, with the Lady Flames on the PK for the first of six times, Beauchamp scored shorthanded on a shot from the slot after receiving outlet passes from Voortman and senior forward Ellie Sarauer.

"Obviously, it was a really good weekend for Beauchamp to start things off, coming off her (season-ending leg) injury from last year," Lowes said. "She's a kid that has a fire for the game. She loves practice, loves games, and gets after it, so we're really happy for Beau. She's got a real desire, and she competes really hard and is an important person to our lineup and our locker room. She leads by example through hard work."

Allison Greene along Liberty bench — Greene checks Washington defenseman Charlotte Zuckerman against the boards along Liberty's bench as Sarauer and freshman forward Jenevie Veillette, a former player for the Pride, look on.

Greene extended Liberty's lead to 3-1 by finishing a feed from freshman forward Marissa Richard at the 8:53 mark before Beauchamp netted the Lady Flames' fourth goal of the first period off a second assist from Lee for a 4-1 edge with 2:37 left.

"We looked a little more comfortable, a little more confident, a little more aggressive today," Lowes said.

"We had lots of good shooting opportunities and lots of high-quality shots around the net and good crashing as well," Adamek added. "As a D corps, we do like to play very offensive, being able to get the puck up to our strong forwards like Brookelyn (Beauchamp) and Tristan (Craig)."

Chloe Moses Liberty forward vs. Pride — Junior forward Chloe Moses (91) pursues the puck beside Washington forward Taylor Ziegler.

Midway through the second period, sophomore forward Chloe Moses netted the Lady Flames' fifth goal off assists from Lee and freshman defenseman Kendra Garlock before Beauchamp completed her hat trick unassisted 1:20 before the second intermission.

"Today, Garlock and Richard had their first assists as Lady Flames and on Saturday, Greene and McGonagle had their first goals," Lowes said. "This first week, our new leadership is taking charge, and our freshmen and transfers are getting used to a new team, and it's good to see them get some production."

"The Pride are always good competition for us," Adamek added. "It's a great first weekend for us to see where we're at and what we can improve on, our strengths and weaknesses as a team and how we can move forward. We had a lot of new girls contributing and blending into our systems really nicely."

The Lady Flames have a few weekends off before traveling to play at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Mass., on Oct. 8-9 and the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I., Oct. 10.

"Now, we hit the road for our next few, so it will be a good team-building trip for our girls," Lowes said.

Allison Greene check in front — Greene posts up with Washington's Emmi Arida in the Lady Flames' series-opening victory on Saturday.

"It's going to be another very competitive weekend at Rhode Island and UMass, so it's going to be really important for our (defensemen) to dial in," Adamek added. "We had a couple really good standout D this weekend, (juniors) Jules Lefaive and Brooklyn Voortman, so we're going to really focus on the D zone and hopefully that will translate to offense."

She said the team has a solid foundation to build on for the rest of the season as it sets its sights on returning to St. Louis in mid-March to contend for another national title.

"It's a whole new group of girls and we're really on fire to go make a name for Liberty Hockey and to glorify the Lord this year," Adamek said. "It's nice to have a strong veteran presence this year. That's enabling us to mesh with the new girls really well. We're just focusing on unity as one body in Christ. We're a team rooted in Christ and we just pray and hope that we can glorify His name every weekend."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer