Liberty Defeats Indiana in overtime thriller
A new campaign is underway for the Liberty Flames field hockey team. The team began its season on the right track, claiming victory in its first two matchups. This first of those two wins came against the Kent State Golden Eagles, where the Flames won 2-0 on goals from senior midfielder Reagan Underwood and graduate student Jodie Conolly.
Against the Golden Eagles, the Flames took 8 shots on goal, and only scored on two of them. This came alongside 10 penalty corners for the Flames, three more then Kent State.
“I would not say I’m content with offense,” Flames Head Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker said. “I think we’ve been generating a ton of opportunities, but when you have a handful of corners, I think we had nine or 10 corners against Kent State, and you execute on one. Right. We want to be more like one out of every four, not one out of every 10. So, I think we’re doing a really great job to create opportunities, but we just need to find ways to finish off corners.”
In their second game of the season, the Flames snatched the victory out of the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers, defeating them 2-1 in the first minute of overtime.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, absent of offensive action. The Flames and Hoosiers totaled just one shot on goal between the two of them. The best chance for either team came on a string of corner shots for the Hoosiers that the Flames defense snuffed repeatedly.
Early in the second half, the Flames scored first on a forehand strike from freshman forward Milagros Arteta to put Liberty up 1-0. The Hoosiers countered with a goal of their own, bringing the game back into a tie, where it would stay for the remainder of regulation.
The Flames received the ball first in overtime, and they immediately made the most of it. Less than a minute into overtime, Arteta sliced her way into the crease, and her offensive pressure forced the Hoosiers to commit a penalty that lead to a penalty stroke from Underwood.
Underwood, who scored one of the two goals for the Flames in their season opener, tallied her second of the season with a game-winner.
“That goal was special,” Underwood said. “Being able to step up for that and do my part for the team was really exciting. Milly (Arteta) did a great job earning that stroke for us and (I’m) very thankful for that so that we didn’t have to go long in overtime.”
Arteta, a transfer from Boston College, had a standout performance in the Flames win over the Hoosiers, tallying her first goal of the season and giving Liberty its winning penalty stroke in overtime.
“Yeah, I think (her) impact has been incredible,” Parsley-Blocker said regarding Arteta. “She’s a finisher. She’s a forward, obviously, and is able to kind of create chaos in there. So, it’s been awesome to have her.”
The Flames have come away from their first two matchups with victories, but they aren’t content with only winning.
“I’m not so much worried about the results,” Parsley-Blocker said. “You could walk away saying, oh, you’re 2-0. I think that’s great, but it’s more the process, and are we executing the game plan? (I want to make sure that we’re) doing what we’re practicing every single day and kind of getting our practice environment to match what’s happening in games a little bit more.”
The Flames, at 2-0, head into their next matchup against UVA in Charlottesville Aug. 29, before playing host to the visiting American University Eagles Sept 3.
Palsgrove is the asst. sports editor. Follow him on X
