No. 7 Liberty to Meet Quinnipiac (Road), James Madison (Home) Over Weekend
10/12/2023 9:28:00 AM | Field Hockey
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 7-ranked Liberty field hockey team will face Quinnipiac and James Madison over the weekend.
The BIG EAST-leading Lady Flames (12-1, 4-0 BIG EAST) will face the Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-6, 2-2 BIG EAST) in league play, Friday afternoon. Match time is 1 p.m. from Quinnipiac Field Hockey Stadium in Hamden, Conn.
On Sunday, Liberty will return home to face in-state opponent James Madison (3-9) in a non-conference bout at the Liberty Field Hockey Field beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday is Senior Day for the Liberty field hockey program. Prior to the contest, the team will honor its 10 seniors with a special ceremony. Those 10 graduating seniors are: Bethany Dykema, Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Jodie Conolly, Lexi Hosler, Maddie Vicars, Pima Iturraspe, Milagros Arteta, Alyssa Maryanopolis, Maitland Demand and Emily Dykema.
No. 7 Liberty is up three spots in the national poll to its highest ranking so far in 2023 and is also No. 5 in the NCAA Field Hockey RPI listing. The Lady Flames are off to their best 13-game start to a season in program history and have won seven games in a row overall.
Liberty went 2-0 last weekend, besting No. 1-ranked North Carolina 2-1 in double overtime on Sunday and taking down Villanova by a 6-0 count, last Friday.
Lady Flames News and Notes
The BIG EAST-leading Lady Flames (12-1, 4-0 BIG EAST) will face the Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-6, 2-2 BIG EAST) in league play, Friday afternoon. Match time is 1 p.m. from Quinnipiac Field Hockey Stadium in Hamden, Conn.
On Sunday, Liberty will return home to face in-state opponent James Madison (3-9) in a non-conference bout at the Liberty Field Hockey Field beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday is Senior Day for the Liberty field hockey program. Prior to the contest, the team will honor its 10 seniors with a special ceremony. Those 10 graduating seniors are: Bethany Dykema, Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Jodie Conolly, Lexi Hosler, Maddie Vicars, Pima Iturraspe, Milagros Arteta, Alyssa Maryanopolis, Maitland Demand and Emily Dykema.
No. 7 Liberty is up three spots in the national poll to its highest ranking so far in 2023 and is also No. 5 in the NCAA Field Hockey RPI listing. The Lady Flames are off to their best 13-game start to a season in program history and have won seven games in a row overall.
Liberty went 2-0 last weekend, besting No. 1-ranked North Carolina 2-1 in double overtime on Sunday and taking down Villanova by a 6-0 count, last Friday.
Lady Flames News and Notes
- Liberty senior goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen was tabbed the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division I Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. This is her fourth career national defensive player of the week award.
- Iritxity Irigoyen also earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors this week for fourth time this year and 12th time in her career. Meanwhile, junior forward Martu Cian, who scored the game-winning goal at No. 1 UNC, was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for a second straight week.
- Liberty's No. 7 national ranking is its best since being ranked sixth in the preseason 2022 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll. The best ranking the program has ever achieved was No. 4 on March 23, 2021. That mark is the highest ranking of any sport in Liberty Athletics history at the Division I Ievel.
- Liberty boasts a 5-1 all-time mark versus Quinnipiac. The Lady Flames blanked the Bobcats 5-0 last year in Lynchburg. In Liberty's five wins in the all-time series, the Lady Flames have outscored the Bobcats 29-3. Liberty's last game at Quinnipiac Field Hockey Stadium resulted in a 5-0 victory over the Bobcats on Oct. 1, 2021.
- The Lady Flames have faced Commonwealth foe JMU six times, with the two teams splitting those six matches. Last year, the Dukes trailed Liberty 2-0 in the early going before storming back for a 3-2 victory in Harrisonburg, Va.
- Liberty's win at UNC was the second in the last three seasons, both on the road at Karen Shelton Stadium, and second all-time win over a No. 1 team in program history. The Lady Flames are the first team ever to win two times at Karen Shelton Stadium. The Tar Heels have only lost four times at the facility since it opened in 2018.
- The Lady Flames are the first program in school history (at the Division I level) to defeat two No. 1-ranked teams. Liberty also bested No. 1 Rutgers 3-2 (4-2 in shootout) in the 2021 NCAA Field Hockey Championship Elite Eight to punch a ticket to the first Final Four in school history.
- Iritxity Irigoyen ranks third nationally in save percentage (.839) and is fifth in goals-against-average (0.67) while leading the BIG EAST in both categories. Jodie Conolly paces the BIG EAST and is eighth nationally in assists per game (0.62).
- As a team, the Lady Flames lead the nation in save percentage and rank third in the country in goals-against-average (0.65), fourth in shutouts per game (0.46), fifth in scoring margin (2.02).
- Liberty was the biggest mover in this week's national poll, moving up three spots to the No. 7 slot. The Lady Flames have been ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation in six straight polls.
- Fifth-year senior defender Bethany Dykema is the program's all-time leader in career assists with 39. She set the new record with an assist on a Conolly penalty corner goal at No. 1 North Carolina, last Sunday. Dykema broke out of a tie with former Lady Flame (38 assists, 2013-16) for the new record.
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