No. 18 Liberty, No. 8 UConn Set For Friday BIG EAST Showdown

LYNCHBURG, Va. – No. 18 Liberty and No. 8 Connecticut are set for a Friday afternoon BIG EAST field hockey showdown. Game time is 1 p.m. from the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn.

The 18th-ranked Lady Flames enter the matchup with a 9-5 overall record and 3-2 BIG EAST mark. Liberty has won its last four games overall. Meanwhile, No. 8-ranked UConn boasts a 13-2 overall mark and 4-1 BIG EAST record. Liberty sits in fourth place in the BIG EAST standings, while Connecticut is tied with Temple (4-1) and Old Dominion (4-1) for first place in the league. Friday's game will be the second-to-last conference contest for both teams.

Liberty went 2-0 last weekend at home, besting Quinnipiac 9-0 and edging Longwood 2-1 in overtime. UConn split a pair of games this past weekend, falling 3-2 in overtime at Providence before bouncing back to defeat No. 14 UMass 1-0.

Liberty has won each of the last six meetings against UConn dating back to the spring 2021 season. The Huskies won the first eight games in the series and hold the overall edge in the series, 8-6.

Lady Flames News and Notes

Liberty featured a trio of BIG EAST weekly award winners on Tuesday in Lou Combrinck (Offensive Player of the Week), Josefina Tomasi (Freshman of the Week) and Dara Semmartin (Weekly Honor Roll). Combrinck earned her second BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week award. This was Tomasi's first time being named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week and Semmartin's first time being recognized on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
The Lady Flames defeated the Huskies 3-0 in last year's meeting in Lynchburg. Jodie Conolly tallied her first career hat trick in that game. Liberty's last trip to Connecticut in 2022 resulted in a 4-0 win over the Huskies.
Liberty is in the No. 21 spot in the latest NCAA Field Hockey RPI listing. UConn is ranked eighth in the RPI.
Liberty has outscored its opposition 17-1 over the last four games. Combrinck leads the Lady Flames with four goals during that span. Semmartin paces the squad with five assists over the last four contests.
Tuti Dell Anna ranks seventh in the BIG EAST and 39th nationally in goals per game (0.57). She leads the team with eight goals in 14 games.
Tomasi is second in the BIG EAST and ninth nationally in defensive saves with three. All three defensive saves have come in the last six matches.
The Lady Flames are No. 18 in the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, up one spot from last week. No. 8 Connecticut (13-2, 4-1 BIG EAST) and No. 19 Temple (9-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) are the other two BIG EAST teams in the national rankings. Liberty has been ranked as high as No. 11 on two occasions this fall.

Schedule

No. 18 Liberty, No. 8 UConn Set For Friday BIG EAST Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Lou Combrinck

Jodie Conolly

Tuti Dell Anna

Dara Semmartin

Josefina Tomasi