Friday, November 14
Princeton, N.J.
2:30 PM ET
Liberty University
vs
Syracuse
BIG EAST Champ No. 6 Liberty to Face No. 10 Syracuse in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
11/12/2025 9:27:00 PM | Field Hockey
LYNCHBURG, Va. – BIG EAST regular season and tournament champion No. 6 Liberty will face No. 10 Syracuse in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship, Friday afternoon.
The Lady Flames (17-2) and the Orange (12-6) will square off at 2:30 p.m. at Princeton's Bedford Field in Princeton, N.J. Liberty will be making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five years and sixth overall (2025, 2023, 2022, fall 2021, 2014, 2013).
The Lady Flames claimed the BIG EAST regular season crown with a perfect 7-0 mark, their third time going unbeaten in league play in the last five seasons. Liberty, the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Championship, topped No. 2 seed UConn 2-1 in overtime in last Sunday's title game to claim its third BIG EAST crown in program history. Lou Combrinck, who scored the game winner, was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Diane Saint Martin, Dara Semmartin and Morena Giacosa.
Meanwhile, Syracuse fifth in the ACC with a 3-5 mark and fell 3-2 (4-1 in penalty shootouts) to No. 4 Virginia in the ACC Championship semifinals.
This will be the second time in the last three seasons that the two schools have met in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, Syracuse edged Liberty 2-1 in overtime in an NCAA Sweet 16 game played at Duke. The only other meeting between the two squads occurred in 2016, with the Orange prevailing 3-2 in overtime over the Lady Flames in a game that was played at Hofstra.
The winner of the Liberty/Syracuse contest will move on to the NCAA quarterfinals to face either No. 2 national seed and No. 3-ranked Princeton (15-3) or No. 20 Fairfield (16-5). Fairfield Boston U squared off in a play-in game on Wednesday afternoon, with the Stags prevailing 1-0. Princeton and Fairfield will meet in the first game of the day at Bedford Field at noon, Friday.
Friday's matchups can be seen on ESPN+.
NCAA Championship Opening Round, First and Second Round Games
Princeton's Bedford Field, Princeton, N.J.
Friday (First Round/Sweet 16)
Noon – No. 3 Princeton (15-3) vs. No. 20 Fairfield (16-5)
2:30 p.m. – No. 6 Liberty (17-2) vs. No. 10 Syracuse (12-6)
Sunday (Second Round/Elite 8)
1 p.m. – Winners of first round games
Liberty History in the NCAA Championship and History Versus the Four Teams
The Lady Flames (17-2) and the Orange (12-6) will square off at 2:30 p.m. at Princeton's Bedford Field in Princeton, N.J. Liberty will be making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five years and sixth overall (2025, 2023, 2022, fall 2021, 2014, 2013).
The Lady Flames claimed the BIG EAST regular season crown with a perfect 7-0 mark, their third time going unbeaten in league play in the last five seasons. Liberty, the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Championship, topped No. 2 seed UConn 2-1 in overtime in last Sunday's title game to claim its third BIG EAST crown in program history. Lou Combrinck, who scored the game winner, was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Diane Saint Martin, Dara Semmartin and Morena Giacosa.
Meanwhile, Syracuse fifth in the ACC with a 3-5 mark and fell 3-2 (4-1 in penalty shootouts) to No. 4 Virginia in the ACC Championship semifinals.
This will be the second time in the last three seasons that the two schools have met in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, Syracuse edged Liberty 2-1 in overtime in an NCAA Sweet 16 game played at Duke. The only other meeting between the two squads occurred in 2016, with the Orange prevailing 3-2 in overtime over the Lady Flames in a game that was played at Hofstra.
The winner of the Liberty/Syracuse contest will move on to the NCAA quarterfinals to face either No. 2 national seed and No. 3-ranked Princeton (15-3) or No. 20 Fairfield (16-5). Fairfield Boston U squared off in a play-in game on Wednesday afternoon, with the Stags prevailing 1-0. Princeton and Fairfield will meet in the first game of the day at Bedford Field at noon, Friday.
Friday's matchups can be seen on ESPN+.
NCAA Championship Opening Round, First and Second Round Games
Princeton's Bedford Field, Princeton, N.J.
Friday (First Round/Sweet 16)
Noon – No. 3 Princeton (15-3) vs. No. 20 Fairfield (16-5)
2:30 p.m. – No. 6 Liberty (17-2) vs. No. 10 Syracuse (12-6)
Sunday (Second Round/Elite 8)
1 p.m. – Winners of first round games
Liberty History in the NCAA Championship and History Versus the Four Teams
- NCAA Championship appearances for Liberty: 6 – 2013, 2014, Fall 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025
- NCAA Tournament record: 4-5
- NCAA Tournament wins: No. 20 Liberty topped Richmond 3-1 in an opening round game on Nov. 12, 2014 at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. The No. 9 Lady Flames defeated No. 11 Saint Joseph's 2-0 in the Sweet 16 on Nov. 12, 2021 at Rutgers' Bauer Track and Field Hockey Complex. Liberty bested No. 1 Rutgers 3-2 (4-2 in the shootout) in the Elite 8 (Nov. 14, 2021). The Lady Flames edged No. 5 Maryland 3-2 in double overtime in the Final 4 (Nov. 19, 2021).
- NCAA Tournament losses: No. 20 Liberty lost 2-1 to No. 1 North Carolina in a first round game on Nov. 15, 2014 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Lady Flames fell to No. 14 Delaware 1-0 in a play-in game on Nov. 13, 2013 in Newark, Del. Liberty lost 2-0 to No. 7 Northwestern in the 2021 National Championship Game (Nov. 21, 2021). The No. 13 Lady Flames dropped a 2-1 double overtime decision at No. 2 Maryland in the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16 (Nov. 11, 2022). No. 7 Liberty lost 2-1 in overtime to No. 10 Syracuse in the 2023 NCAA Sweet 16 (Nov. 10, 2023).
- Series history with Syracuse: This will be the third all-time matchup between Liberty and Syracuse and first since 2023. The Lady Flames fell 2-1 in overtime to the Orange in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Championship. The Orange edged the Lady Flames 3-2 in overtime at Hofstra on Sept. 3, 2016.
- Series history with Princeton: Liberty and Princeton have never met on the field hockey pitch.
- Series history with Fairfield: The Lady Flames and Stags have never faced each other.
- Series history with Boston U (eliminated on Wednesday): Liberty and Boston U have never squared off on the field hockey pitch. Former Lady Flame Jodie Conolly, who was a 2023 NFHCA All-America first team member while at Liberty, began her collegiate career at with the Terriers (2019).
- What a win on Friday over Syracuse would mean: A win on Friday would be Liberty's second ever victory in the NCAA Championship Round of 16. The other came during the fall 2021 season, when No. 9 Liberty bested No. 11 Saint Joseph's 2-0 in the Sweet 16 (Nov. 12, 2021) at Rutgers.
- Liberty featured a pair of BIG EAST major award winners in unanimous BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Dara Semmartin and Goalkeeper of the Year Diane Saint Martin. Semmartin and Saint Martin, both All-BIG EAST first team selections, were joined on the first team by Lou Combrinck. The Liberty staff was named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Josefina Tomasi and Julieta Tornati garnered All-BIG EAST second team honors.
- Saint Martin was named the NFHCA Division I Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after her performance at last weekend's BIG EAST Championship. The freshman goalkeeper posted a 2-0 record, 0.98 goals-against average, nine saves and a .818 save percentage in the pair of wins over Villanova (semifinals) and No. 20 UConn (final).
- Liberty claimed its third outright BIG EAST regular season crown in the last five years and fourth overall regular season title in that span with a perfect 7-0 record in league play this fall.
- Liberty enters the NCAA Field Hockey Championship in the No. 6 slot in both the NCAA Field Hockey RPI listing and the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The Lady Flames were listed among the top 10 teams in the coaches poll in all 10 regular season weeks this season.
- Liberty is one of the top teams in the nation in several statistical categories. The Lady Flames rank No. 4 in the country in winning percentage (.895), No. 5 in goals-against average (0.88), No. 7 in shutouts per game (0.42), No. 9 in scoring margin (1.86), No. 10 in assists per game (2.79), No. 11 in save percentage (.767), No. 13 in points per game (8.37), No. 13 in penalty corners per game (7.21) and No. 17 in scoring average (2.74). Liberty ranks first in the BIG EAST in all of those categories.
- Saint Martin leads the conference and ranks No. 4 in the country in goalie win-loss percentage (.895), No. 5 in in goals-against average (0.84) and No. 10 in save percentage (.775). With eight shutouts, she is tied for the most shutouts by a goalkeeper in a single season in school history.
- Semmartin, who has a program-record 16 assists this year, ranks seventh nationally and first in the league in assists per game (0.84). Combrinck is third in the BIG EAST and ranks 21st in the country in assists per game (0.63).
- Liberty has three wins over-top 20 teams in 2025. This fall, the Lady Flames have defeated No. 5 Duke, No. 17 Appalachian State and No. 20 UConn. Two of those three squads (Duke and UConn) are in the NCAA Tournament field.
- Liberty assistant coach Reagan Underwood will be squaring off with her twin sister, Bryn, who is the Director of Operations for Syracuse field hockey.
- Syracuse's head coach Lynn Farquhar, who is in her third at the helm of the Orange, was the head coach of Saint Joseph's during the fall 2021 season when Liberty made its historic run to the national championship game. The Lady Flames bested the Hawks 2-0 in the opening round before going on to knock off No. 1 Rutgers 3-2 (4-2 in penalty shootouts) in the Elite 8. Liberty went on to edge No. 5 Maryland 3-2 in double overtime in the NCAA Final Four before falling 2-0 to No. 7 Northwestern in the national title game.
- The journey that year (fall 2021) started in New Jersey at Rutgers, and this year's postseason quest also begins in New Jersey, this time at Princeton.
- Duke will host the Final Four of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship on Nov. 21 and 23 at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Players Mentioned
F/M
/ Field Hockey
D
/ Field Hockey
GK
/ Field Hockey
D
/ Field Hockey
F
/ Field Hockey
D
/ Field HockeyCoach Parsley-Blocker Talks About Preparing For Syracuse
Tuesday, November 11
Lou Combrinck & Dara Semmartin Talk About Preparing For Syracuse
Tuesday, November 11
Finding Faith at Liberty:
Monday, November 10
Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker & Lou Combrinck Talk About Winning The Big East Championship
Monday, November 10