Double-overtime triumph over Terrapins sends Lady Flames Field Hockey to NCAA Division I final

Senior forward Charlotte Vaanhold scored the game-winning goal in double overtime, giving No. 9 Liberty a 3-2 victory over No. 5 Maryland on Friday at Phyllis Ocker Field. Liberty (20-2) extended its NCAA Division I-best winning streak to 17 games by upsetting the eight-time national champion Terrapins and advances to Sunday’s 2 p.m. national championship game, where it will face No. 7 Northwestern (17-5), a 2-1 overtime winner over No. 12 Harvard (17-2) in Friday’s second semifinal.

Vaanhold’s goal, her second of the day and ninth of the season, came on a feed from Jill Bolton at the 78:33 mark. Following a scoreless first half, Bolton gave the Lady Flames a 1-0 lead by finishing a breakaway opportunity in the third quarter. Vaanhold, originally from The Netherlands, had scored the winning penalty corner in last Sunday’s 3-2 quarterfinal shootout triumph over No. 1-seeded Rutgers University on its home field in Piscataway, N.J., giving Liberty its first Final Four berth in any NCAA Division I sport.

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