No. 1 Seed Liberty Prepares For 2025 BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship
11/6/2025 11:32:00 AM | Field Hockey
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Top-seeded and outright BIG EAST regular season champion Liberty will start its journey for a BIG EAST Championship title when it hosts No. 4 seed Villanova on Friday afternoon in the BIG EAST Championship semifinal round.
Game time between the No. 7-ranked Lady Flames (15-2, 7-0 BIG EAST) and Wildcats (5-12, 3-4 BIG EAST) is 1 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Friday's second semifinal, slated for 4 p.m., features No. 2 seed and No. 20-ranked Connecticut (10-7, 6-1 BIG EAST) and No. 3 seed Old Dominion (8-9, 5-2 BIG EAST). The winners of Friday's semifinals will meet in the title game, Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
Liberty is serving as the host site for the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship for the second time in program history and first since 2018. All three games will air live on ESPN+.
The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic bid into the 2025 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship. This year's NCAA Tournament features 18 teams, with 10 conference champions and eight at-large selections included in the field. The 2025 NCAA Field Hockey Selection Show will be held Sunday evening at 10 p.m. on ncaa.com.
This is the third time in the last five years that the Lady Flames have been the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Championship (fall 2021, 2023 and 2025). Liberty is in search of its third BIG EAST crown in the last five seasons and fifth conference title overall. Liberty's four total conference tournament titles include two BIG EAST crowns (fall 2021, 2022) and two NorPac titles (2013, 2014).
Liberty finished 7-0 in BIG EAST regular season play to qualify for the championship for a 10th straight season. The Lady Flames posted a perfect 7-0 mark in league play for the third time in the last five years. Liberty is 62-13 all-time in BIG EAST regular season matches (10 years), including a 57-11 mark under current head coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker. Liberty holds an 8-7 all-time record at the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship.
BIG EAST Championship Schedule
Friday (Semifinals)
1 p.m. – No. 1 seed Liberty (15-2) vs. No. 4 seed Villanova (5-12)
4 p.m. – No. 2 seed Connecticut (10-7) vs. No. 3 seed Old Dominion (8-9)
Sunday (Championship Game)
1 p.m. – Winners of semifinals
*All three BIG EAST Championship games will air live on ESPN+.
Liberty and Villanova by the Numbers
Game time between the No. 7-ranked Lady Flames (15-2, 7-0 BIG EAST) and Wildcats (5-12, 3-4 BIG EAST) is 1 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Friday's second semifinal, slated for 4 p.m., features No. 2 seed and No. 20-ranked Connecticut (10-7, 6-1 BIG EAST) and No. 3 seed Old Dominion (8-9, 5-2 BIG EAST). The winners of Friday's semifinals will meet in the title game, Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
Liberty is serving as the host site for the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship for the second time in program history and first since 2018. All three games will air live on ESPN+.
The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic bid into the 2025 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship. This year's NCAA Tournament features 18 teams, with 10 conference champions and eight at-large selections included in the field. The 2025 NCAA Field Hockey Selection Show will be held Sunday evening at 10 p.m. on ncaa.com.
This is the third time in the last five years that the Lady Flames have been the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Championship (fall 2021, 2023 and 2025). Liberty is in search of its third BIG EAST crown in the last five seasons and fifth conference title overall. Liberty's four total conference tournament titles include two BIG EAST crowns (fall 2021, 2022) and two NorPac titles (2013, 2014).
Liberty finished 7-0 in BIG EAST regular season play to qualify for the championship for a 10th straight season. The Lady Flames posted a perfect 7-0 mark in league play for the third time in the last five years. Liberty is 62-13 all-time in BIG EAST regular season matches (10 years), including a 57-11 mark under current head coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker. Liberty holds an 8-7 all-time record at the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship.
BIG EAST Championship Schedule
Friday (Semifinals)
1 p.m. – No. 1 seed Liberty (15-2) vs. No. 4 seed Villanova (5-12)
4 p.m. – No. 2 seed Connecticut (10-7) vs. No. 3 seed Old Dominion (8-9)
Sunday (Championship Game)
1 p.m. – Winners of semifinals
*All three BIG EAST Championship games will air live on ESPN+.
Liberty and Villanova by the Numbers
- Regular Season Matchup: Liberty topped Villanova 5-0 last Friday at the Liberty Field Hockey Field in the regular season finale to earn the outright BIG EAST regular season title.
- Top performers: Tori Griffiths 3 g, 6 pts | Avery Pollock 1 g, 2 a, 4 pts | Dara Semmartin 2 a, 2 pts (broke school record for assists in a single season with 15) | Julieta Tornati 1 g, 2 pts
- All-time series: Liberty leads Villanova 13-0.
- All-time series in the BIG EAST Championship: This will be the second meeting between the two teams in the BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship. In 2023, Liberty bested Villanova 3-2 in the semifinals, held at Temple's Howarth Field.
- Liberty's Dara Semmartin earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Diane Saint Martin was tabbed the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year. The Liberty coaching staff was named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Semmartin and Saint Martin were joined on the All-BIG EAST first team by senior Lou Combrinck. Josefina Tomasi and Julieta Tornati were tabbed to the All-BIG EAST second team.
- Semmartin is the fourth BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in program history. Saint Martin is the second BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year in Liberty field hockey history.
- In the final weekly awards of the, Semmartin was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for the fifth time this season. Tori Griffiths received her first career BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week honor after her first career three-goal game versus Villanova in the regular season finale, and Tornati made the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
- Semmartin is the program's single-season assists record holder with 15 this year. She currently ranks No. 1 in the BIG EAST and No. 8 nationally in assists per game (0.88). Saint Martin has the fifth-best goals-against average mark (0.82), leading the league in the category. She is also No. 6 nationally (first in BIG EAST) in goalie win-loss percentage (.882) and 12th in the country in save percentage (.767). Combrinck checks in at No. 20 in the country and second in the BIG EAST in assists per game (0.65).
- Liberty is No. 5 nationally and first in the nation in shutouts per game (0.47). The Lady Flames are also in the top 20 nationally in goals-against average (No. 5, 0.87), winning percentage (No. 5, .882), scoring margin (No. 9, 1.91), assists per game (No. 10, 2.88), points per game (No. 12, 8.53), goals per game (No. 16, 2.82), scoring average (No. 16, 2.78) and save percentage (No. 19, .758). Liberty leads the BIG EAST in all of those categories except for save percentage (No. 2). The Lady Flames have two victories against top-20 teams so far this season, including wins over No. 5 Duke and No. 17 Appalachian State.
- The Lady Flames are ranked No. 7 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll for a fifth straight week and stand at No. 8 in the NCAA Field RPI listing. After starting the year ranked No. 17 in the country, Liberty has been ranked inside the top 10 in every regular season poll (nine weeks), reaching as high as No. 5 on Sept. 23.
- The Lady Flames received 23 BIG EAST weekly honors and three national awards in 10 weeks of regular season competition.
- Liberty enters the BIG EAST Championship riding a five-match winning streak. The Lady Flames allowed only two goals in seven BIG EAST regular season games, recording six shutouts in those seven matches. Liberty has eight shutouts in 2025, tied for the second most in a single season in program history.
- If Liberty were to reach Sunday's championship match, it would face either No. 2 seed UConn or No. 3 seed Old Dominion. The Lady Flames topped both teams by 1-0 scores during the regular season, with both games being played at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
- Liberty is aiming for its seventh appearance in the BIG EAST final in 10 seasons in the league. The Lady Flames have reached the championship game six times, going 2-4 in those contests (wins in fall 2021 and 2022 seasons).
- When Liberty hosted the BIG EAST Championship for the first time in 2018, the Lady Flames reached the final and finished as the runner-up to Connecticut. Liberty bested No. 3 seed Providence 4-0 before falling 5-3 to top-seeded UConn.
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/ Field HockeyGameday with Liberty Field Hockey
Thursday, October 30
Lou Combrinck: Strength Through the Setbacks
Wednesday, October 29
Liberty Field Hockey Defeats Providence
Saturday, October 18
Coach Parsley-Blocker & Julieta Tornati Talk About The Win Over Providence
Saturday, October 18