Liberty University Flames

No. 10 Liberty will host No. 4 Northwestern on Tuesday afternoon in its home opener in what will be a battle of top-10 field hockey squads. Match time is slated for noon at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.

Liberty is 3-0 this season following road victories at UC Davis, California and No. 25 Stanford to open the fall. Meanwhile, Northwestern is 3-1 and has wins over No. 6 Connecticut, No. 21 Miami and No. 12 Duke in the early portion of the season. The Wildcats’ only setback came on Sunday, a 2-1 decision against No. 7 Boston College.

This will be the first-ever meeting on the pitch between the two squads. This is the first time Liberty has welcomed a top-five opponent to Lynchburg since hosting No. 4 Duke on Nov. 3, 2019.

Lady Flames News and Notes

• Liberty’s Jill Bolton and Azul Iritxity Irigoyen were honored by the BIG EAST Conference, last Tuesday. Bolton received BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week recognition, while Iritxity Irigoyen was selected as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week. Both players have five career player of the week honors from the conference.

• The Lady Flames have outscored their competition 15-2 in their first three games. Liberty currently ranks No. 2 in the nation in scoring average (5.00), goals per game (5.00) scoring margin (4.33) and points per game (14.33). Liberty is No. 3 in the country in assists per game (4.33) and No. 7 in goals-against-average (0.67).

• Liberty’s Bolton ranks second in the nation in both goals per game (1.67) and points per game (4.00). Daniella Rhodes is sixth in the country in goals per game (1.33) and points per game (3.33). Iritxity Irigoyen ranks seventh nationally in goals-against-average (0.67).

• Liberty returns each of its six All-BIG EAST honorees from a season ago, led by NFHCA All-America first team recipient Bolton. Bolton was named Preseason BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year, while Iritxity Irigoyen received Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Bolton, Iritxity Irigoyen, Rhodes and Jodie Conolly each garnered inclusion on the Preseason All-BIG EAST team.

• The Lady Flames were listed at No. 10 in the preseason Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, their best preseason national ranking in school history. The second national poll of the fall will come out at noon Eastern on Tuesday, right when Liberty and Northwestern begin their game in Lynchburg.

• Liberty has been selected to finish second in the BIG EAST preseason coaches’ poll behind only Connecticut, the nine-time defending BIG EAST champion. Both teams received four first-place votes in the poll, with the Huskies edging the Lady Flames 46-45 for the top spot.

• Liberty Field Hockey Head Coach Nikki Parsley-Blocker attended Northwestern and played for the Wildcats from 2010-13. She earned second team All-American honors as a senior during the 2013 campaign.

• Liberty is 6-4 all-time in home openers. The Lady Flames bested Villanova 7-1 in their first home game during the spring 2021 season, Feb. 20.

Schedule

Liberty to Battle Northwestern in Top-10 Matchup on Tuesday Afternoon