No. 10 Lady Flames to Face In-State Foes ODU, William & Mary

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No.-10 ranked Liberty Lady Flames field hockey team is set to face a pair of in-state foes in Old Dominion and William & Mary over the weekend.

Liberty (5-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) will first meet Old Dominion (2-3, 0-0 BIG EAST) in its BIG EAST opener, Friday afternoon at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Match time is 3 p.m. On Sunday, the Lady Flames will face the William & Mary Tribe (1-2) in a road non-conference contest. Game time is 11 a.m. at Busch Field in Williamsburg, Va.

Friday's game between the Lady Flames and Monarchs is a rematch of the 2022 BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship title game. Liberty topped ODU 3-1 in that game to win its second straight BIG EAST crown. The Lady Flames are 7-0 all-time in BIG EAST openers, including a 3-0 home record. Liberty bested Georgetown 10-0 in last year's conference opener at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.

William & Mary will play at Towson on Friday before competing against Liberty on Sunday. The Lady Flames split a pair of games last weekend, topping No. 14 Harvard 2-1 in overtime and falling 2-1 in overtime to No. 13 Duke.

Lady Flames News and Notes

Liberty and ODU have squared off 16 times, the most common opponent the Lady Flames have faced since the program's inception. The Lady Flames hold a 9-7 edge in the all-time series. Liberty is 6-4 all-time against Old Dominion in BIG EAST regular season games. This is the first time the Lady Flames and Monarchs will meet in each team's first league game of the year.
ODU edged Liberty 1-0 (2-1 in penalty strokes) in a shootout in the last regular season meeting (Oct. 28, 2022) in Norfolk, Va.. The last time the Lady Flames and Monarchs met in Lynchburg was during the fall 2021 campaign in the regular season finale. Liberty edged ODU 2-1 to finish a perfect 7-0 in league play and secure its first outright BIG EAST regular season title in program history.
Liberty is 2-2 all-time versus William & Mary. The Tribe edged the Lady Flames 1-0 in overtime a season ago (Sept. 4, 2022) in what was Liberty's home opener.
Fifth-year senior Jodie Conolly earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season and third time in her career. Milagros Arteta received BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll distinction.
Liberty is No. 3 in the nation in save percentage (.839), No. 4 in defensive saves (3) and No. 5 in goals-against-average (0.75). The Lady Flames lead the BIG EAST in each of the three categories.
Lady Flames senior goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen ranks fourth in the country in goals-against-average (0.75) and fifth in save percentage (.821). Meanwhile, Conolly is eighth nationally in assists per game (0.83).
Liberty is ranked 10th in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll. This is the second straight week the Lady Flames have been listed among the top-10 teams in the country.

Schedule

No. 10 Lady Flames to Face In-State Foes ODU, William & Mary

Players Mentioned

Milagros Arteta

Jodie Conolly

Azul Iritxity Irigoyen