Lady Flames Enter Big East Field Hockey Championship as No. 1 Seed After ODU Win

The Lady Flames clinched the Big East regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs Oct. 29 when they beat No. 15 Old Dominion 2-1. The victory came behind senior midfielder Lizzie Hamlett’s two goals.  

Hamlett’s first goal of the game occurred in the second period around the 16-minute mark. Hamlett notched her eighth goal of the season off an assist by junior forward Daniella Rhodes to tie the game at 1-1.  

The second goal by Hamlett was scored on an unassisted rebound from the top of the goal cage with 39 seconds  left to play in the final period. Hamlett’s final goal put the Lady Flames up 2-1 late in the contest and iced the game.

With the win against Old Dominion, the No. 8 Lady Flames locked up the No. 1 seed for the tournament, posting a record of 15-2 (7-0 in conference play). UConn locked up the No. 2 seed with a record of 9-10 (5-2 in conference play) after breaking  the tie against Old Dominion due to UConn beating Old Dominion 2-0 Sept. 17. Old Dominion will be the No. 3 seed after finishing 13-4 (5-2 in conference play), and Temple will be the No. 4 seed after posting a record of 8-9 (4-3 in conference play).

The Big East tournament will begin Friday, Nov. 5. Liberty will play in the semi-finals against Temple, and UConn will play Old Dominion. The finals will take place Sunday, Nov. 7 in Storrs, Connecticut, at UConn’s campus.

Hamlett emphasized consistency as a core component to being successful at the upcoming tournament.

“I think we’re going to stay consistent with what we’ve been doing because it has been working out pretty well,” Hamlett said. “We leave on Wednesday, so we’re just going to try and keep our routine as much as possible, especially traveling up north.”

Redshirt senior defender Ashley Dykema-Pereira  said the team will be continuing its theme of preparing the same regardless of the opponent.

“We’re not worried about who we are playing, whether the highest ranked team or they’re not ranked at all,” Dykema-Pereira said.  “We’re focused on what we can do and what we can control.”

Head Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker agreed with sticking to the theme, looking at the next game as the most important one in the team’s season.  

“We have bigger things that we want to accomplish this year, including making the NCAA tournament and making a run in that,” Parsley-Blocker said.

The No. 1 seeded Lady Flames will travel north to Storrs, Connecticut, for their Big East semi-final match against the No. 4 Temple Owls. The game is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. EST.

Hisaw is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.