Field Hockey
It was a history-making season for the Lady Flames, who defended their NorPac Championship by upsetting fourth-ranked Stanford, 1-0, in the Nov. 8 final in Stockton, Calif., before winning their first NCAA Tournament game four days later at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
In the fourth season as a program under Head Coach Jodi Murphy, Liberty entered the tournament ranked in the NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll (at No. 20) for the first time. The Lady Flames defeated Richmond 3-1 in the NCAA play-in game, before falling to six-time NCAA champion North Carolina, 2-1, Nov. 15 in Chapel Hill, N.C., in a battle between the second-most prolific offenses in the country (3.60 goals per game).
Junior forward Sarah Gipe (45 points, including a single-season record-tying 19 goals) and twin sophomore midfielders Bethany and Serena Barr were selected to the All-NorPac Conference first team. Junior goalkeeper Mallory Cuccio recorded 14 wins and a 1.64 goals-against average.
Cross Country
Senior Jacy Christiansen earned Big South Women’s Runner of the Year honors after claiming the individual championship in a record time of 17 minutes, 37.64 seconds on the 5,000-meter course at the Big South meet hosted by Gardner-Webb on Nov. 1.
The Lady Flames (73 points) were edged out by team champion High Point (67 points), which also snapped the runner-up Flames’ men’s team’s conference record run of nine straight Big South team titles and Liberty’s streak of 24 Big South men’s cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field team championships dating back to 2006.
Volleyball
Liberty was the second NCAA Division I team to reach the 20-win mark this season, and finished 23-10 for the seventh 20-win season in the past eight years for 11th-year Head Coach Shane Pinder. The Lady Flames won 13 matches in a row during one stretch, capped by three-set sweeps of Presbyterian and Winthrop, Oct. 24 and 25 in the Vines Center, to improve to 22-5.
Liberty lost five of its last six matches, culminating with an upset sweep at the hands of sixth-seeded High Point in the first round of the Big South Championships.
Redshirt junior outside hitter Caroline Douglas, whose season was curtailed by an injury sustained on Oct. 31, still was named to the All-Big South first team, finishing runner-up in the Player of the Year voting.
Women’s Soccer
After capturing its third Big South regular-season championship, Liberty (14-4-2) narrowly missed a return trip to the NCAA Division I tournament, losing to third-seeded High Point, in the Big South Championships final, 5-4 in penalty kicks, Nov. 9, in Greensboro, N.C.
Holly Van Noord, the Lady Flames’ first-ever Big South Defensive Player of the Year, set the school record for shutouts in a season with nine and posted a conference-best 0.69 goals-against average. Junior midfielder Brittany Aanderud distributed a single-season-record nine assists, the most in the league in 2014. Senior defender Maddie Boone joined Van Noord and Aanderud on the Big South All-Conference first team.
Men’s Soccer
The Flames ended their regular season on a five-game winning streak against conference opponents, concluding with a 1-0 triumph over High Point, Nov. 8, at Osborne Stadium, where junior forward Sachem Wilson scored the golden goal 18 seconds into the second overtime.
Playing in his final home game, goalkeeper Scott Sutarik, the Flames’ only senior, recorded his sixth shutout of the season and 22nd of his career, second only to Paul Annan’s 28 shutouts from 1992-95. Fifth-seeded Liberty (11-6-1) fell to No. 4 Winthrop in the Big South Championships opener.
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Backed by a standing-room-only crowd at the LaHaye Aquatic Center, Liberty set four pool records and won its fifth straight home dual meet, improving to 6-2 by dealing Richmond (4-1) its first defeat, 189-105, on Oct. 31. The Lady Flames won 13 out of 14 events, three by junior Kendall Hough (including the 100-yard backstroke in a pool-record time of 56.63 seconds) and two each by junior Hannah Wakeley (including the 1,000 free in a record 10:26.18), sophomore Heather McCorkel (including the 200 free in a record 1:52.32), and freshman Prudence Rooker (including the 200 Individual Medley in a record 2:07.27).
Women’s Ice Hockey
Following their third-place finish at the ACHA DI national championships, the Lady Flames were ranked third in the preseason ACHA DI poll and moved up a spot with a convincing sweep of second-ranked Massachusetts over Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 3-4, at the LaHaye Ice Center.
Liberty, led by junior forward and captain Carrie Jickling, started the season 15-0-1 before losing three in a row to No. 4 Rhode Island at home and at top-ranked, defending ACHA DI national champion Miami, Nov. 21-22 in Oxford, Ohio.
Men’s Ice Hockey
Featuring the top two scorers in ACHA Division I — freshman Luke Hannon and senior Lindsay LeBlanc — the Flames (16-6-4) were ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation in the fall semester despite losing both of their starting goalies to injury.
Freshman Josh Halpenny returned from his injury for the Dec. 6 win over Virginia Tech, and sophomore Matt Pinel returned in January. They worked with the new goalies coach, former NHL player Daniel Berthiaume, in preparation for an eighth ACHA DI National Championships appearance (March 5-9 in Cleveland) in Liberty’s nine seasons at that level.
Wrestling
The wrestling team captured its second NCWA National Duals championship in its four seasons in the league on Jan. 24 in Dalton, Ga. The Flames, ranked No. 1 in the NCWA since the start of the season, finished 6-0. The team survived its toughest test of the tournament in the semifinals against fourth-seeded Central Florida, advancing to the finals with a 23-15 triumph. Liberty won nine of 11 matches in the championship final against Mid-Atlantic Conference rival Apprentice School.
Liberty will try to claim its fourth consecutive MAC tournament crown, Feb. 28 in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center. By capturing the National Duals team title, the Flames earned 24 bonus points and will be considered favorites heading into the NCWA National Championships, March 12-14 in Allen, Texas.
Men’s Volleyball
Liberty went 16-2-1 in fall tournament play, winning its first major invitational title since 2009, Sept. 6 at Eastern Mennonite (EMU), before capturing its home invitational title on Oct. 11.
After opening their spring schedule against EMU on Jan. 22, the Flames hosted their first-ever match in the Vines Center, a midnight “Blackout” showdown with Rutgers on Jan. 31.
Crew
Liberty’s men’s lightweight four crew of junior Joel Buckhalt, senior Robert Newman, junior captain Sam Knauss, and sophomore Kevin Brown captured its third gold medal of the season at the Nov. 8 Head of the South Regatta on the Savanna River in Augusta, Ga., which featured 573 entries from 79 clubs. After winning the season-opening Head of Ohio, Oct. 4 in Pittsburgh, and the Oct. 12 Occoquan Chase, the Flames surged past teams from Georgia Tech, Clemson, and the University of Georgia to win the 5,000-meter race in 18 minutes, 12.7 seconds.
The women’s novice eight, coxed by Lydia Miller and powered by Ana Rodriguez, Sarah Catto, Kiana Bales, Alexandra Coughlan, Pei Calia, Kendra Dowdy, Alexandria Strader, and Hayley Edmundson, dominated the 18-team field, winning by 40 seconds in 19:08.4.
Paintball
Flames first-year Head Coach Brian Davidson guided his Gold, White, and Blue lines to first-, fifth-, and sixth-place finishes, respectively, at the Liberty Open. The Class AA MSCC Event No. 1, held Sept. 27 at the Liberty Paintball Fields, drew 15 teams.
Then on Nov. 8, in its only Class A tournament of the fall, the Flames’ Gold line swept Maryland, 5-1, East Carolina University, 3-2, and North Carolina State, 5-1, in preliminary play before beating the reigning Class AA national champion Wolfpack in a championship rematch, 3-1.
Equestrian
Liberty’s first-year Western riding team fared exceptionally well in its debut at St. Andrews, Sept. 21-22, in Laurinburg, N.C., placing fifth out of 10 teams in Region 3 on both days.
A highlight for Liberty’s Hunt-Seat team, competing in Region 5, was its fourth-place showing out of 11 teams at an event hosted by High Point on Oct. 19. The Lady Flames reaped four blue ribbons, one by junior Courtney Kerns, the reserve high point rider, in novice over fences. Freshman Sarah Philbrick (intermediate on the flat), senior Emma Grace Moore (novice over fences), and sophomore Cassandra Steptoe (novice on the flat) also placed first.
Gymnastics
Facing a field that included ACC members Clemson, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and host Virginia Tech, Liberty’s men’s and women’s gymnastics teams made impressive season debuts at the Hokie Classic on Nov. 8. Lady Flames senior captain Alyssa Frost tied for fourth in the All-Around and sophomore captain Jessie Hogue placed 11th to lead the women, who came in 11th out of 23 teams. Competing with a complete men’s team for the first time since the 2010-11 season, Liberty finished sixth out of 16 teams.
Ski & Snowboard
At the season-opening United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) event at Massanutten Resort near Harrisonburg, Va., on Jan. 10, Liberty University’s men’s and women’s snowboard teams won the slopestyle competition in a landslide, sweeping the first seven men’s positions and the top three women’s spots out of more than 75 competitors from eight Southeast Region schools, including Duke, James Madison, and Virginia.
Liberty placed all nine of its men’s riders in the top 15. Bryan Ducharme, a freshman from Alaska, was the men’s individual champion with 63 points, followed closely by seniors Kevin Hoff and Isaac Gibson. Lady Flames sophomore Sydney Beatty won the women’s division, while senior newcomer Brooke Gibson placed second and junior Brandy Fronte took third.
Baseball
The Liberty Flames Baseball team was ranked No. 23 in The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s 2015 Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I preseason baseball poll. Liberty, which posted a 41-18 overall record last season, was included in the poll for the second straight year and is the only Big South Conference squad to make the list.
Liberty returns 21 players from last year’s team, including first baseman Alex Close and pitcher Ashton Perritt, who were both named Louisville Slugger Preseason All-Americans by The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The publication selected Close to the second team, while Perritt was tabbed as a relief pitcher on the third team. Both players were named Big South All-Conference in 2014.
Last season, Liberty earned the program’s first ever at-large selection to an NCAA Regional, marking the first time in team history that the Flames appeared in a regional competition in back-to-back years. The 2014 Flames recorded the second-most wins in a single season (41) and celebrated their fourth 40-plus win season in program history. Liberty also set a program high for Big South Conference victories with a 23-3 mark while earning a top 25 ranking from all of the major polls during the season.
In addition, The Liberty Baseball Stadium was ranked among the top 100 stadium experiences of 2014 by the Stadium Journey website. The list includes professional venues across the globe, with Oriole Park at Camden Yards — home of the Baltimore Orioles — taking the top spot. Stadium Journey rated Liberty’s stadium No. 52 among all venues; last summer, the same website ranked it No. 5 in best college ballpark experiences of 2014.
The Flames will open their 2015 campaign at the Atlanta Challenge, where Liberty will face two other teams on the Fabulous 40 poll — No. 27 Kennesaw State (Feb. 13) and No. 26 Georgia Tech (Feb. 15).
- Stay current on Flames NCAA Division I sports and Club Sports teams at www.Liberty.edu/Athletics.
