No. 1 Seed Liberty to Compete at BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship at UConn
11/4/2021 9:57:33 AM | Field Hockey
Live Stats: Liberty vs. Temple
Live Video: Liberty vs. Temple (BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports)
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No. 1 seed and outright BIG EAST regular season champion Liberty will head to Connecticut for the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship, which gets started on Friday.
No. 8-ranked Liberty (15-2, 7-0 BIG EAST) will begin its journey for its first BIG EAST crown, Friday at 1 p.m. against the No. 4 seed Temple Owls (8-10, 4-3 BIG EAST).
The four-team 2021 BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship will be hosted by Connecticut at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn. The winner of Friday’s first semifinal match between Liberty and Temple will advance to face either No. 2 seed and host UConn (10-10, 5-2 BIG EAST) or No. 3 seed Old Dominion (13-4, 5-2 BIG EAST). The Huskies and Monarchs will square off in the second semifinal, Friday at 4 p.m.
The tournament champion will earn the conference’s automatic berth to the Division I Field Hockey Championship. This year’s NCAA Tournament will return to its regular 18-team format, with 10 conference champions and eight at-large selections included in the field.
Liberty is in search of its first BIG EAST title in program history. The Lady Flames are the No. 1 seed at the championship for the first time. The Lady Flames won NorPac Championship crowns in 2013 and 2014. Liberty played as an independent in 2015 prior to joining the BIG EAST for the 2016 season.
The Lady Flames finished a perfect 7-0 in BIG EAST regular season action for the first time in school history. Liberty defeated ODU 2-1 last Friday to lock up the No. 1 seed for the championship. The Lady Flames hold a 38-9 all-time mark in BIG EAST regular season competition.
All BIG EAST Championship games will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by FloSports.
BIG EAST Championship Schedule
Friday (Semifinals)
1 p.m. – No. 1 seed Liberty (15-2) vs. No. 4 seed Temple (8-10)
4 p.m. – No. 2 seed Connecticut (10-10) vs. No. 3 seed Old Dominion (13-4)
Sunday (Championship Game)
1 p.m. – Winners of semifinals
Liberty and Temple by the Numbers
• Fall 2021 Matchup: Liberty defeated Temple 6-1, Oct. 15 at Howarth Field in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Top performers from the Liberty-Temple regular season meeting: Daniella Rhodes 3 g, 1 a, Lizzie Hamlett 2 g, Bethany Dykema 1 g, 1 a
• All-time series: Liberty leads 10-1
• All-time series within BIG EAST play: Liberty leads 9-0
• All-time series in the BIG EAST Championship: This is the first meeting between the two schools in the BIG EAST Championship.
Lady Flames News and Notes
• Liberty paced all BIG EAST squads with six all-conference honorees, led by BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and All-BIG EAST first team member Daniella Rhodes. Rhodes, forward Jill Bolton and defender Bethany Dykema were all unanimous first team selections, while goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen was also named to the first team. Lizzie Hamlett and Jodie Conolly rounded out the Lady Flames All-BIG EAST honorees, as they were both named to the second team.
• Liberty enters the BIG EAST Tournament as the national leader in goals per game (4.00), scoring average (4.00), points per game (11.41) and assists per game (3.41). The Lady Flames also rank ninth in the country in penalty corners per game (7.71) and 11th in goals-against-average (1.12).
• Rhodes leads all BIG EAST players and is No. 4 in the nation in goals per game (1.07) and No. 5 in points per game (2.64). Bolton ranks ninth nationally in points per game (2.12) and 11th in goals per game (0.88). Iritxity Irigoyen is No. 12 in the country in goals-against-average (1.14). Redshirt senior Kendra Jones, along with Rhodes, are both No. 27 in the country in assists per game (0.50).
• The Lady Flames are currently No. 8 in the country in the NCAA Field Hockey RPI listing.
• Liberty is also listed at No. 8 in the nation in the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The Lady Flames have been among the top 10 teams in each of the last four national polls.
• If Liberty were to reach Sunday’s championship game, it would face either No. 2 seed UConn or No. 3 seed Old Dominion. The Lady Flames topped both potential opponents this season, with each match played at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Liberty bested UConn 3-1 (Sept. 24) and Old Dominion 2-1 (last Friday).
• Liberty holds a 2-8 all-time mark against the UConn Huskies but has won the last two meetings. The Lady Flames are 8-6 all-time versus the ODU Monarchs. With the 14 meetings, ODU is Liberty’s most common all-time opponent.
