No. 17 Lady Flames to Square Off With Commonwealth Foes ODU, Richmond
10/1/2026 11:56:00 AM | Field Hockey
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 17 Liberty Lady Flames field hockey team will square off with Commonwealth foes Old Dominion (Friday) and Richmond (Sunday) over the weekend.
Liberty (5-4, 0-1 BIG EAST) will first match up with ODU (7-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) in its BIG EAST home opener, Friday at 3 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. On Sunday afternoon, the Lady Flames will face Richmond (6-3) in a road non-conference contest. Game time is noon from Crenshaw Field in Richmond, Va.
The Lady Flames, the preseason BIG EAST favorite, are looking for their first conference win of the season after falling 3-2 at No. 7 Connecticut, last Friday night in their first BIG EAST game. Old Dominion, who was picked to finish third in the preseason coaches' poll, is also in search of its maiden league victory of 2026. The Monarchs fell 2-0 at home to Providence in their first conference game on Sept. 18 but have rebounded with three straight victories outside of league play.
Richmond carries a 3-2 home mark into the weekend and will face La Salle in an A10 contest on Friday night prior to facing the Lady Flames. The Spiders dropped their most recent game by a 3-1 score at Saint Joseph's, last Friday afternoon.
Lady Flames News and Notes
Liberty (5-4, 0-1 BIG EAST) will first match up with ODU (7-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) in its BIG EAST home opener, Friday at 3 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. On Sunday afternoon, the Lady Flames will face Richmond (6-3) in a road non-conference contest. Game time is noon from Crenshaw Field in Richmond, Va.
The Lady Flames, the preseason BIG EAST favorite, are looking for their first conference win of the season after falling 3-2 at No. 7 Connecticut, last Friday night in their first BIG EAST game. Old Dominion, who was picked to finish third in the preseason coaches' poll, is also in search of its maiden league victory of 2026. The Monarchs fell 2-0 at home to Providence in their first conference game on Sept. 18 but have rebounded with three straight victories outside of league play.
Richmond carries a 3-2 home mark into the weekend and will face La Salle in an A10 contest on Friday night prior to facing the Lady Flames. The Spiders dropped their most recent game by a 3-1 score at Saint Joseph's, last Friday afternoon.
Lady Flames News and Notes
- Liberty is currently first in the nation in shots on goal per game (12.60). The Lady Flames also rank No. 4 in goals per game (4.00), No. 6 in points per game (11.11), No. 6 in scoring average (3.90), No. 8 in defensive saves (5), No. 9 in assists per game (3.11) and No. 12 in scoring margin (2.06).
- Junior Josefina Tomasi is one of nine players in the country with three or more defensives saves on the year. She ranks tied for fifth with three defensive saves. Freshman Clarisa Iudicello leads the team in goals (7) and is tied for 24th in the nation in goals per game (0.78).
- Sophomore midfielder Paris-Gail Isaacs was tabbed to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Tuesday. Isaacs' award is her first career weekly honor from the conference. The Johannesburg, South Africa native scored a penalty corner goal at No. 7 UConn, her second goal of the season.
- Liberty and ODU will be meeting for the 21st time. The Monarchs are the Lady Flames' most common all-time opponent. Liberty holds a 11-9 edge in the series.
- This is the second straight year the two squads will play in Lynchburg. Last year, Liberty shut out ODU 1-0, with Julieta Tornati scoring the lone goal of the match in the second period. The Monarchs were also in Lynchburg in early November for the 2025 BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship, but the two teams did not square off.
- Liberty sports a 9-1 all-time record in BIG EAST home openers. Last year, the Lady Flames edged UConn 1-0 in their first conference home game.
- The Lady Flames are 4-0 all-time versus the Richmond Spiders. The two teams will meet for the second straight year. In 2025, Liberty topped Richmond 4-2 at home.
- Liberty is 2-2 at home, 3-1 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games so far in 2026.
- The Lady Flames are in the No. 17 spot in this week's Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. Last week, Liberty was ranked 14th.
Players Mentioned
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