Women’s Division 1 Hockey Sweeps Adrian, Finishes Season 12-1

The Lady Flames Division I women’s hockey team closed out the regular season by sweeping the Adrian College Bulldogs March 12 and 13 on Liberty’s home ice, extending their season record to an impressive 12-1.

The top-ranked Lady Flames in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) opened the weekend series with a 5-1 win. The victory marked the Lady Flames’ first home victory since a matchup with Lindenwood Jan. 24.

“There were some things we did well, and then there were some bad things,” Head Coach Chris Lowes said. “We had a couple of really careless turnovers. Special teams were okay, power play was subpar.”

Short-handed goals played a major part in the matchup. The Lady Flames scored several times while undermanned and prevented opposing power play goals when one of their players was in the penalty box.

Lowes said that the short-handed goals gave the team a psychological edge over the Bulldogs, beyond the points it put on the scoreboard.

“Those short-handed goals are crippling,” Lowes said. “You could just feel the wind go out of (Adrian’s) sails. They work really hard just like every team to create chances, and then when that happens and you think it’s going to be a good two minutes, I think that can be really heart-breaking.”

Liberty spread the puck around well as the game unfolded, with three different players combining for Liberty’s five goals.  

“That’s our team,” Lowes said. “That’s a big strength of ours. We’ve had some seven- and eight-score games with different people scoring. We’ve got a number of people who can be dangerous for us offensively.”

The Lady Flames opened the first period slowly, committing several turnovers and opening the door for the Bulldogs to score. Adrian could not capitalize, however, and senior forward Shelby Bradford broke open the scoring first at the 15:37 mark, maneuvering around several Adrian players on a fast break to score single-handedly, giving Liberty the 1-0 lead.

Bradford struck again five minutes into the second period. Freshman forward Brityn Fussy intercepted a pass and assisted Bradford, who shot from point-blank range in front of the goal to increase Liberty’s lead to 2-0. 

Both Fussy and sophomore forward Yannick Truter added points on the board to close out the second period, giving the Lady Flames room to breathe with a
 4-0 lead.

The Adrian Bulldogs finally cracked the net in the third period, scoring at the 16:22 mark of the third period and preventing a shut-out loss. But the Lady Flames quickly answered, with Fussy scoring off an assist from graduate student forward Vanessa DeMerchant during a two-on-one break. 

Freshman goalie Amanda Storey staved off the Bulldogs attacks in the final minutes, allowing the Lady Flames to take home the 5-1 victory. Storey put in an imperious performance in goal throughout the afternoon, tallying 21 saves.

The Lady Flames won again on senior night March 13, winning the second game of the series with the Bulldogs 6-1. 

With the regular season finished, the Lady Flames look toward competing in the Women’s Midwest College Hockey (WMCH) tournament March 26-28 near St. Louis.  The Lady Flames will then take a shot at winning their third consecutive ACHA D1 National Championship title April 15-20.

“We’re going to have a big target on our back,” Lowes said. “It’s all about us continuing on our journey and continuing to get better. We learn from mistakes, and that’s just kind of reinforcing things we need to do better.”

Sarah Tate is a Sports Reporter. Follow her on Instagram at @state2151.