BIG EAST Champion No. 13 Liberty Set to Face No. 2 Maryland in NCAA Sweet 16

BIG EAST champion No. 13 Liberty is set to face No. 2 Maryland in the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship, Friday afternoon.

The Lady Flames (12-7) and the Terrapins (17-3), the No. 3 national seed, will meet on the pitch at noon at the Maryland Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Md. Liberty won its second straight BIG EAST title, defeating No. 1 seed and 13th-ranked Old Dominion 3-1 on Sunday. Meanwhile, Maryland (7-1 Big Ten) was the Big Ten regular season co-champion with Penn State. The Terrapins fell 2-1 to No. 4 Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship semifinals.

Friday’s game will be a rematch of the 2021 NCAA Field Hockey Championship Final Four game. Liberty’s Charlotte Vaanhold scored the game-winning goal in double overtime to lift the Lady Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Terrapins at Michigan’s Ocker Field (Nov. 19, 2021).

Prior to the meeting, Liberty and Maryland squared off in regular season action back in 2017 in College Park, a game won by the Terrapins by a 4-1 score.

The winner of the Liberty/Maryland match will move on to the NCAA quarterfinals and will face either No. 7 Princeton (13-4) or No. 8 Syracuse. The Tigers and Orange play in the other first round match at Maryland beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Friday’s matchup can be seen on Big Ten Plus.

NCAA Championship First and Second Round Games

Maryland Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, College Park, Md.

Friday (First Round/Sweet 16)

Noon – No. 13 Liberty (12-7) vs. No. 2 Maryland (17-3)

2:30 p.m. – No. 7 Princeton (13-4) vs. No. 8 Syracuse (15-5)

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: 4 – 2013, 2014, Fall 2021 and 2022

• NCAA Tournament record: 4-3

• NCAA Tournament wins: Liberty topped Richmond 3-1 in an opening round game on Nov. 12, 2014 at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. The 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 doubles 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).

• Series history with Maryland: The series is even 1-1. Liberty topped Maryland 3-2 in double overtime in last year’s national semifinals to reach its first national championship game in program history. Maryland bested Liberty 4-1 in College Park in 2017 in what was Lady Flames head coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker’s first season at the helm.

• Series history with Princeton: The two teams have not faced each other on the field hockey pitch.

• Series history with Syracuse: Syracuse leads 1-0. The Orange edged the Lady Flames 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 3, 2016 in a game hosted by Hofstra. Syracuse won the 2015 national title and was the defending national champion. Liberty head coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker was an assistant coach for the Lady Flames at that time.

• What a win on Friday over Maryland would mean: A win on Friday would be Liberty’s second ever victory in the NCAA Championship Round of 16 and would mark the second straight year that the Lady Flames will have defeated the Terrapins in the NCAA Tournament.

Lady Flames News and Notes

• Liberty led all BIG EAST teams with six all-conference honorees. The Lady Flames featured three All-BIG EAST first team selections in Bethany Dykema, Lizzie Hamlett and Charlotte Vaanhold. Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Jodie Conolly and Daniella Rhodes were tabbed to the second team.

• Liberty enters the NCAA Tournament in the No. 19 spot in the NCAA Field Hockey RPI. Maryland is No. 2 in the RPI.

• The Lady Flames are in the top five nationally in six different statistical categories: shutouts per game (No. 2, 0.53), scoring margin (No. 2, 2.26), assists per game (No. 3, 3.11), goals per game (No. 4, 3.37), points per game (No. 4, 9.84) and scoring average (No. 5, 3.28). Liberty is also seventh nationally in goals-against-average (1.03).

• Individually, Iritxity Irigoyen is No. 8 in the country in goals-against-average (1.07). Rhodes is 19th nationally in points per game (1.78), 24th in assists per game (0.56) and 27th in goals per game (0.61). Bethany Dykema ranks 23rd in assists per game (0.58) and 35th in points per game (1.42). Conolly is No. 24 in the country in assists per match (0.56), while Hamlett is No. 35 in points per game (1.42).

• Liberty has three ranked wins in 2022 and 13 over the past two seasons. The Lady Flames, who are 3-6 against top-25 teams this fall, have defeated UConn twice (No. 9 and No. 14) and Old Dominion (No. 13). Liberty was 10-3 versus ranked teams in 2021.

• Liberty’s BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team honorees included Iritxity Irigoyen (Most Outstanding Player), Conolly, Bethany Dykema and Martu Cian.

• Connecticut will host the semifinals and final of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship on Nov. 18 and 20 at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn.

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BIG EAST Champion No. 13 Liberty Set to Face No. 2 Maryland in NCAA Sweet 16

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