NorPac champs

Lady Flames win back-to-back titles

For the second straight year, a top-10-ranked Stanford team stood between Liberty field hockey and an NCAA Tournament berth, and for the second straight year, the Lady Flames emerged victorious.

Sarah Gipe scored the lone goal of the Northern Pacific (NorPac) Championship final just under four minutes into the match, deflecting Natalie Barr’s shot past Cardinal goalkeeper Dulcie Davies and then the Lady Flames defense did the rest. Lady Flames goalie Mallory Cuccio tallied her fourth shutout of the season, only having to face three shots on goal in a 1-0 Lady Flames victory that clinched back-to-back NorPac Tournament Championships. Gipe was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, scoring two goals and notching an assist in the Lady Flames semifinal matchup with California to go along with her tournament-winner.

In only four years of existence as a Division I program, the Lady Flames now have two conference titles to call their own.

The Lady Flames secured a home play-in matchup Nov. 12 with Richmond, where Lady Flames Head Coach Jodi Murphy was an assistant before taking the head job at Liberty. If the Lady Flames can get past the Spiders, they will make the trip to Chapel Hill to take on No. 1 North Carolina, who embarrassed the Flames 4-0 earlier in the year.

Unlike the leadup to their previous matchup, when the Lady Flames had lost two games in a row before heading into their matchup with the Tar Heels, Liberty would be riding a five-game winning streak heading into a potential matchup with UNC. In fact, the last time the Lady Flames were on the losing side of things, it was at the hands of the Tar Heels.

The Lady Flames are hoping to avoid their fate from last year, when they lost their play-in game with Delaware after a one-goal victory over Stanford in the NorPac Tournament Championship game. With the emergence of Gipe as a potent scorer, things should not stall out on offense the way they did a year ago in a 1-0 loss to the Blue Hens. The Lady Flames go into their contest with Richmond second in the country in goals per game with 3.59.

The Lady Flames have scored at least five goals in eight of their 20 games.

Tichenor is the sports editor.