No. 6 Liberty to Open Season at Hoosier Invitational
8/25/2022 12:15:14 PM | Field Hockey
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Live Stats: Liberty vs. Kent State
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Live Stats: Liberty at Indiana
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The No. 6-ranked Liberty field hockey team will open its 2022 season at the Hoosier Invitational, hosted by Indiana Saturday and Sunday.
No. 6 Liberty (20-3, 7-0 BIG EAST in 2021) and Kent State (12-6, 6-1 MAC in 2021) will get the season started at noon Saturday at the IU Field Hockey Complex in Bloomington, Ind. On Sunday, the Lady Flames will square off with the host Indiana Hoosiers (10-10, 2-6 Big Ten in 2021). Game time is noon.
Liberty and Kent State last met on Oct. 24, 2021, a 2-1 home victory for the Lady Flames on Senior Day. The Lady Flames hold a 3-0 edge in the all-time series. Liberty and Indiana will be meeting for the first time in field hockey.
The 2022 season is the most highly anticipated season in program history with Liberty coming off a 2021 campaign in which it finished as the NCAA Field Hockey Championship runner-up. The Lady Flames won a program-record and nation-best 20 games in 2021, finished unbeaten in BIG EAST regular season play (7-0), captured their first BIG EAST title, and became the first team in school history to play for a national championship.
Lady Flames News and Notes
• Liberty returns five of its six All-BIG EAST selections from a year ago, led by All-Americans Azul Iritxity Irigoyen (first team) and Daniella Rhodes (second team). Rhodes was tabbed this year’s Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year on Tuesday, and Iritxity Irigoyen was named to the preseason all-conference team. Senior defender Bethany Dykema garnered Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Lizzie Hamlett was named a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection. Senior Jodie Conolly, a BIG EAST all-conference selection last season, also returns for the Lady Flames.
• The Lady Flames welcome nine newcomers this year: Lou Combrinck (M/F), Pima Iturraspe (D/F), Anna Miller (F), Kyleigh Faust (D), Gianna Miller (D), Maitland Demand (D – Louisville transfer), Michaela Skinner (GK), Tori Griffiths (M/F) and Mia Crabtree (F).
• Liberty has been voted to finish first in the 2022 BIG EAST Field Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll. This is the first time in program history the Lady Flames have been picked to win the league. Liberty was tabbed to finish second in the conference in each of its first six years in the league (2016-21). The Lady Flames received six of the eight available first-place votes and 48 points in the poll, outpacing second place UConn (two first-place votes, 41 points).
• The Lady Flames are listed at No. 6 in the preseason Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, their best preseason national ranking in program history. Liberty’s highest-ever national ranking is No. 4, achieved during the spring 2021 campaign (March 23, 2021). The mark is the best of any team in Liberty Athletics history.
• Liberty’s strong 2022 schedule features six opponents who are among the top-25 teams in the nation in the preseason poll: No. 1 Northwestern (Sept. 9, away), No. 2 North Carolina (Oct. 2, home), No. 9 Louisville (Oct. 9, home), No. 12 Virginia (Oct. 18, home), No. 15 Connecticut (Sept. 23, away) and No. 19 Old Dominion (Oct. 28, away).
• Liberty is 7-4 all-time in season openers and has won four straight season openers. The Lady Flames bested UC Davis 7-1 to open their fall 2021 campaign.
• Liberty led the nation in four offensive categories in 2021: goals per game (3.48), scoring average (3.38), assists per game (3.00) and points per game (9.96). Liberty returns 70 percent (56-of-80 goals) of its scoring from a year ago, led by Rhodes (16 g, 7 a, 39 pts in 2021).
• In their first six years in the conference, the Lady Flames sport a 38-9 BIG EAST record in regular season contests and have made four appearances in the BIG EAST Championship title game. Liberty posted a perfect 7-0 conference regular-season record last year and went on to win its first BIG EAST crown.
