Women’s DI hockey defeats Adrian College in weekend series
Liberty women’s hockey entered the LaHaye Ice Center at 10 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15, as the second ranked team in the ACHA. Sixteen hours later, they left the building winners of two straight games over number one Adrian College and prepared to defend their national championship.
The Lady Flames came into the weekend series with the top-ranked Bulldogs knowing a lot was on the line. Liberty’s only loss of the season came on the road against Adrian, a 3-1 defeat Oct. 26 in Michigan.
“(The team) didn’t need much motivation from (the coaches),” Chris Lowes, Liberty’s Division I women’s hockey head coach, said. “ … There were countless reasons this was a big game for us and the girls were fired up.”
After a narrow 5-4 victory Friday night, Liberty came out of the gates firing in Saturday afternoon’s second matchup. Five minutes into the opening period, freshman Grace Machholz assisted on a goal by forward Danica Polson to give the Lady Flames the early advantage.
DOMINANT — The Lady Flames are 29-1-3 on the season.
Later in the period, the Lady Flames and Bulldogs went back and forth, scoring three goals in 24 seconds of play.
Adrian College’s Nicole Paradis tied the game at 1-1 before Shelby Bradford scored 12 seconds later to put Liberty back ahead by one. Eleven seconds after Bradford’s goal, Celina Clark shot the puck off the back of Liberty’s goaltender Nadia Rupoli and into the back of the net to even the score once again.
Liberty answered back with goals by forwards Shannon Fehr and Alex Smibert to give the Lady Flames a 4-2 lead at the first intermission.
“We definitely wanted it more than (the Bulldogs),” Senior forward Lauren McDonald said, of the back and forth first period. “We would step it up, but as soon as they scored we found some inner strength because we knew we wanted it more and we knew we had to respond.”
Other than the consecutive goals allowed in the first period, Rupoli held the Bulldogs scoreless for the final 50 minutes of play. Adrian had pressure around the crease all game, but Rupoli stood her ground to keep the puck out of the net for the final two periods.
“The last half of the game (Rupoli) was big for us,” Lowes said. “A couple of those (shots) bounce through and it’s a different game. … (It was) very encouraging and a great way to finish the season for her.”
Following the four goals allowed in the first period, the Bulldogs would bring in their backup goalie Kalysta Coulter. The Lady Flames welcomed Coulter by scoring six minutes into the second period when Vanessa DeMerchant found a streaking Bradford, who finished off her second goal to move the lead to 5-2.
Adrian had an opportunity to get back in the game when defensemen Emily John and Clarissa Tipping were simultaneously called for penalties, giving the Bulldogs a 5-on-3 advantage and a chance to cut into the Liberty lead. Rupoli stepped up with several key saves to help the Lady Flames kill off two full minutes of a two-man advantage, stifling the Bulldogs power play unit.
SHOT — The Lady Flames crushed Adrian College in a two-game series.
“I can wholeheartedly say we wouldn’t have got the win without Nadia,” McDonald said. “I can probably count at least seven times the puck should have went in and she bailed us out.”
Rupoli finished the game with 52 saves to earn her 18th win of the season.
After carrying the three-goal lead into the second intermission, the Lady Flames kept swinging in the final period against their rivals. It was DeMerchant who was on the receiving end of a pass from Bradford and she buried the puck and the Bulldogs hopes for a comeback into the goal just 20 seconds in to the third period.
Liberty tacked on two more goals in the period and finished off Adrian by a final score of 8-2 on Senior Day.
“For the last home game, it was probably the best outcome we could possibly have,” McDonald said. “We came up with an 8-2 win against a first-place team, so leaving on a high note, you can’t do much better than that.”
With the victory, the Lady Flames finished their season series against the Bulldogs with a 2-1-1 record. Liberty defeated Adrian in the ACHA national championship game in 2018 and will look to defend that crown in March.
“Our girls will go in (to the postseason) confident,” Lowes said. “I think we are going to be a dangerous team. I wouldn’t bet against us.”
