Liberty Field Hockey Defeats App State 5-0

In a weekend series, the Liberty University Field Hockey team defeated Appalachian State Oct. 6, ending 5-0 in a shutout following a 1-5 loss against Temple University Oct 4.

Prior to the Lady Flames’ conference home opener against the Temple Lady Owls, senior midfielder Martu Cian was added to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season. She is the first on the team to earn two Big East honors, receiving her first Sept. 3. 

The Lady Flames ultimately fell to the Temple Lady Owls with a 1-5 final score, resulting in a back-to-back loss for Liberty. The Lady Flames have lost four of their previous six matches. Senior forward Tuti Dell Anna was the only Lady Flame who managed to score a goal during this game, a match that resulted in the Lady Owls defeating the Lady Flames for the first time since Liberty joined the Big East Conference in 2016. 

Liberty managed a comeback win two days later to end its losing streak with a 5-0 win over Appalachian State. This win brought Liberty’s record up to 6-5, which in turn broke App State’s five-game winning streak. Dell Anna managed to score two goals during this game.

“I feel really happy with that,” Dell Anna said. “I have been working really hard, but honestly I think the team has been working really hard too, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Graduate defenseman Ella Murphy scored the first goal of the match from a penalty corner assisted by graduate midfielder Reagan Underwood and sophomore defenseman Nicole Enslin. After the first goal, the Lady Flames kept building on their momentum. 

“I think we executed the basics, passing, receiving, and we kept trusting our teammates,” Dell Anna said. “Without that, I think our emotions can be negative sometimes, but I think we handle those emotions really well, and that’s how we score a lot of goals.” 

Dell Anna scored the second goal of the game and her fifth goal of the season from a penalty corner just before halftime with an assist from freshman defenseman Dara Semmartin. Semmartin made another assist just 39 seconds into the third period for the Lady Flames’ third goal, coming from senior midfielder Ellie Livingston. 

One of the Lady Flames’ final goals against the Lady Mountaineers came from junior midfielder Lou Combrinck, who was assisted by Livingston. Dell Anna finished out the scoring with an assist from freshman midfielder Josefina Tomasi, which came from a reverse through the legs of App State senior goalkeeper Claire Grenis. 

“This was my first play goal; I usually score corner goals, and again, I couldn’t have done this without my teammates,” Dell Anna said. “I think we’re a great team, and I believe that we can go a lot further.” 

“I think that this season has been full of a lot of adversity, and a lot of it has been inflicted by ourselves, to be perfectly honest,” Head Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker said.

The Liberty Field Hockey team will be back in action Oct. 11 as it faces Villanova University in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. 

“We are learning to be respectful of the scoreboard, whether we’re winning 5-0 or losing 5-0,” Parsley-Blocker said. “We have to continue to bring the intangibles, bring the things that we know make Liberty Field Hockey so special that help us stay connected, help us to communicate our forehand-to-forehand passing from a technical standpoint.”

Schlösser is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.