Field Hockey Continues Home Stretch
9/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
The Liberty Lady Flames field hockey squad continues its four-game home stretch with three contests over the next five days. The Lady Flames will host Penn (Friday), Lafayette (Sunday) and Richmond (Tuesday) before taking to the road for a matchup against Ohio on Sept. 11.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Live stats will be available for all three contests by clicking the appropriate links on the field hockey schedule/results panel of LibertyFlames.com. The live stats will be provided by StatBroadcast. Live video will be provided by the Big South Network for Sunday's contest against Lafayette and Tuesday against Richmond.
About Liberty
The Lady Flames jumped out to a strong start to begin the 2015 campaign, besting James Madison by a score of 6-3 on Friday at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Liberty exerted its high-powered offense, recording 20 shots, including 13 on net.
Quick Facts:
• Six different Lady Flames accounted for a goal in Friday's 6-3 victory.
• Bethany Barr tallied one goal and one assist against James Madison, leading the squad with three points.
• Natalie Barr and Sarah Gipe are neck and neck for the program's all-time lead in career goals. Barr and Gipe each scored in Friday's contest, keeping Barr (41) one goal ahead of Gipe (40).
• Senior goalkeeper Mallory Cuccio leads the program with 26 career wins and needs 44 saves to surpass Ann Jefferis for the most saves in program history.
Lady Flames versus the Quakers
Liberty will square off against Penn Friday at 4 p.m. for the third time in program history, with the series split at one game apiece. The Lady Flames have the most recent upper hand, defeating the Quakers by a score of 3-2 on Sept. 14, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pa. The victory sparked Liberty to an eight-game winning streak, the longest in program history.
Scouting the Quakers: Penn is coming off of an 8-9 finish in 2014. The Quakers open their 2015 season in Lynchburg, Va. The Quakers return leading goal scorer Alexa Hoover, as the sophomore accounted for 14 goals a year ago.
Liberty and the Leopards
Liberty trails Lafayette, 1-0, in the all-time field hockey series as the Leopards bested the Lady Flames by a score of 4-2 on Sept. 12, 2014 in Easton, Pa. The Lady Flames will host the Leopards on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Scouting the Leopards: Lafayette is off to a 2-0 start for the second consecutive season, having bested Ball State (3-2) and Siena (9-1). The Leopards have a chance to improve to 3-0 with a matchup against Longwood Friday before traveling to the Hill City. Senior forward Katie Birle paces the Lafayette offense with three goals and six points.
Lady Flames against the Spiders
Liberty will face Richmond on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the first time during the regular season. The two squads squared off in the NCAA Tournament Play-In game a year ago when Liberty squashed the Spiders' hopes of advancing to the first round, upending Richmond by a score of 3-1 on Nov. 12, 2014 in Lynchburg, Va.
Scouting the Spiders: Richmond began the season with back-to-back 2-1 victories over American and Drexel. The Spiders will square off against Iowa in Harrisonburg, Va., for a neutral site contest before arriving in Lynchburg on Tuesday. Richmond is led offensively by Amy Cooke, who has recorded one goal and one assist thus far in the season.
Looking Ahead
Following the home stretch, the Lady Flames will travel to Athens, Ohio to take on the Ohio Bobcats at 4 p.m. on Sept. 11. Liberty will then travel to Louisville, Ky. on Sept. 13 to square off against the Louisville Cardinals at 1 p.m.
