No. 6 Liberty to Meet William & Mary in Sunday’s Home Opener
9/2/2022 10:23:06 AM | Field Hockey
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No. 6 Liberty will meet in-state foe William & Mary in Sunday’s home opener.
Match time is 1 p.m. in what will be the first game on the brand-new pitch at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
Liberty and William & Mary both sport 2-0 records entering the weekend. The Lady Flames topped Kent State 9-0 and Indiana 2-0 last weekend at the IU Field Hockey Complex in Bloomington, Ind. Meanwhile, William & Mary knocked off No. 19 Old Dominion 3-2 in double overtime and edged VCU 1-0 in overtime on opening weekend.
This is the Lady Flames’ only game of the weekend, while the Tribe while host Richmond (1-1) on Friday evening (6 p.m.) prior to traveling to Lynchburg for Sunday’s tilt.
The two teams met in exhibition action on Aug. 19. The last regular season meeting between Liberty and William & Mary took place on Sept. 19, 2021, a 2-0 Lady Flames home win. Liberty is 2-1 all-time versus the Tribe.
Lady Flames News and Notes
• Liberty senior forward Daniella Rhodes was tabbed BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week in the conference’s first set of awards, Tuesday. Rhodes totaled four goals, an assist and nine points in victories over Kent State and Indiana during opening weekend. The Durban, South Africa native is currently third nationally in both goals per game (2.00) and points per game (4.50)
• Senior Bethany Dykema garnered inclusion on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. The defender tallied one goal, two assists and four points and helped the defensive unit shut out the Golden Flashes and Hoosiers while limiting their opponents to seven total shots (two on goal) over the weekend.
• Liberty is No. 1 in the country in goals per game (5.50), scoring average (5.50), scoring margin (5.50), shutouts per game (1.00), save percentage (1.000) and goals-against-average (0.00). The Lady Flames are second nationally in points per game (15.50) and fifth in assists per game (4.50).
• Rhodes was tabbed this year’s Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. Senior defender Dykema garnered Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Azul Iritxity Irigoyen and Lizzie Hamlett were both Preseason All-BIG EAST selections.
• Liberty was selected to finish first in the 2022 BIG EAST Field Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll. This is the first time in program history the Lady Flames have been picked to win the league.
• Liberty features nine newcomers this year: Lou Combrinck (M/F), Pima Iturraspe (D/F), Anna Miller (F), Kyleigh Faust (D), Gianna Miller (D), Maitland Demand (D – Louisville transfer), Michaela Skinner (GK), Tori Griffiths (M/F) and Mia Crabtree (F). Combrinck and Iturraspe have started each of Liberty’s first two games.
• Liberty remains ranked No. 6 in the nation. There is no national poll this week, with the next Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll set to come out next Tuesday.
• Six of the Lady Flames’ 15 remaining games are against teams currently in the top 25: No. 1 Northwestern (Sept. 9, away), No. 2 North Carolina (Oct. 2, home), No. 9 Louisville (Oct. 9, home), No. 12 Virginia (Oct. 18, home), No. 15 Connecticut (Sept. 23, away) and No. 19 Old Dominion (Oct. 28, away).
• Liberty is 6-5 all-time in home openers. The Lady Flames fell 4-3 to No. 4 Northwestern last year in the home opener (Sept. 7, 2021) in what turned out to be a preview of the 2021 NCAA Field Hockey National Championship game.
About the New Pitch
Liberty Field Hockey Field Video Tour
The new Liberty Field Hockey pitch was completed last week. The Poligras Platinum system that Liberty will be playing on was used at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016, and it’s one of AstroTurf®’s most widely-used products worldwide. Consisting of tufted polyethylene fibers, the field features a multidirectional closed surface that demonstrates unbeatable ball rolling behavior. It also comes with a high stitch density, which creates a much more compact appearance than other modern field hockey systems.
