Liberty’s fall sports are officially underway all over campus, and we will provide weekly updates on all of the teams throughout the semester.
CROSS COUNTRY
Allie Zealand won the women’s 6K in Huntsville, Alabama to help lead the Liberty women’s cross-country team to the CUSA Championship. Meanwhile, the men’s squad took second place.
Zealand covered the course in 19:53.0, winning by nearly 30 seconds. She was the first of eight Lady Flames to cross the finish line among the top 21 finishers as Liberty posted a dominating 64-point victory over runner-up New Mexico State. The Lady Flames recorded the second-largest margin of victory in meet history, trailing only their own 66-point triumph from 2024. Liberty has claimed back-to-back women’s cross country titles for the first time since the spring and fall of 2021 in the ASUN.
The men, who were attempting to defend their 2024 cross country title, finished with 55 points, 18 behind Middle Tennessee. Andrew Schultz (sixth place) paced four Flames inside the top 11 as Liberty posted its 23rd straight top two finish in men’s cross country spanning three leagues (Big South, ASUN, CUSA).
#7 FIELD HOCKEY (17-2, 7-0 Big East)
As the No. 1 seed in the Big East Championship held this past weekend at Liberty Field Hockey Field, the Lady Flames secured its third Big East title in program history and earned the league’s automatic berth into the 2025 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship.
On Friday in the semifinals, Liberty defeated No. 4 seed Villanova, 3-1. Liberty sophomore Josefina Tomasi scored the go-ahead goal to propel the hosts to victory. Liberty led 1-0 with a 28th minute goal from Maite Altamirano on a penalty corner, her first career goal. The Lady Flames led by that margin into the early stage of the fourth quarter until the visiting Wildcats evened it up at 1 with a goal at the 46:47 mark. Liberty answered back less than five minutes later on Tomasi’s penalty corner goal, her sixth tally of the season. Liberty closed the match with an empty net goal from Avery Pollock with three seconds remaining.
Senior Lou Combrinck scored the championship-winning goal in overtime, lifting Liberty to a 2-1 victory over No. 2 seed Connecticut in the final, claiming a third championship in the last five seasons. Combrinck was named the Big East Championship’s Most Outstanding Player.
No. 7 Liberty will face No. 10 Syracuse (12-6) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Princeton’s Bedford Field in Princeton, New Jersey airing on ESPN+. Princeton is the No. 2 national seed and will host Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games on Friday and Sunday. The Tigers (15-3) will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between Fairfield and Boston on Friday at noon. The Lady Flames are making its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the 15-year history of the program including four of the last five years. Friday’s first round matchup will be a rematch of the 2023 NCAA Sweet 16 contest between Liberty and Syracuse. The Orange prevailed 2-1 in overtime in that matchup and owns a 2-0 edge in the all-time series.
WOMEN’S SOCCER (14-3-4, 6-0-2 CUSA)
No. 2 seed Liberty secured its second CUSA Women’s Soccer Championship title in three seasons, topping No. 8 seed Missouri State, 3-0, at home on Friday afternoon. CUSA Player of the Year, Ivy Garner, was named the CUSA Championship Offensive MVP while CUSA Defensive Player of the Year, Lauren Littleton, was named the CUSA Championship Defensive MVP. Freshman Lauren Flax opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the contest with her first goal of the tournament and first since Oct. 9. Liberty added a second goal in the first half with Flax’s second goal of the contest. The Lady Flames’ defense controlled the game and possession in the first half with Missouri State unable to record a single shot in the first 45 minutes. Garner scored her 15th goal of the season and broke a CUSA record with five goals in the CUSA Championship.
Receiving the automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, Liberty will be making its second appearance in three years. The Lady Flames will travel to Clemson, South Carolina to take on the No. 8 seed Tigers (7-5-5) Friday at 6 p.m. This will be Liberty’s ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Flames defeated Tennessee Tech in a play-in game in 2000, the only previous victory in the NCAAs. Liberty is currently No. 45 in the RPI rankings while Clemson is No. 38.
MEN’S SOCCER (9-4-6, 4-2-4 OVC)
No. 3 seed Liberty used a strong defensive effort to shutout the No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois, 1-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference quarterfinals on Sunday in St. Charles, Missouri. The Flames advance to the OVC semifinals on Wednesday where Liberty will take on No. 2 seed Houston Christian. Flames senior forward Sam Farner scored his fifth goal of the season off a corner kick during the 19th minute for the game’s only goal. Liberty allowed Eastern Illinois only one shot on goal out of their 10 shot attempts in the contest.
VOLLEYBALL (20-7, 8-6 CUSA)
Liberty rallied from a 2-1 deficit to top Missouri State in five sets on Saturday and to sweep the weekend series against the Bears in Springfield, Missouri, winning both matches in five sets. The Lady Flames secured their 24th 20-win season in program history and first since 2022. Liberty is now 9-2 in five-set matches this season.
The Lady Flames close out the regular season with a pair of home matches against Western Kentucky on Friday and Saturday at Liberty Arena.
