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 (15-2, 7-0 Big East)
No. 7 Liberty blanked Villanova, 5-0, in the final game of the regular season to claim the outright 2025 Big East regular season title, the fourth in five years for the program and third outright title. The Lady Flames also closed out a perfect 8-0 record during the regular season at home. Tori Griffiths notched her first career three-goal game in the victory. Dara Semmartin established a new program single-season record for assists (15) with a pair of assists in the win. Freshman goalkeeper Diane Saint Martin notched her eighth shutout of the season, matching a program single-season shutouts record.
Liberty will be the No. 1 seed for this weekend’s Big East Field Hockey Championship, held at Liberty Field Hockey Field. The Lady Flames will face No. 4 seed Villanova (5-12, 3-4 Big East) in a rematch of the regular season finale on Friday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, No. 2 seed and 20th-ranked UConn (10-7, 6-1 Big East) will meet No. 3 seed Old Dominion (8-9, 5-2). The championship final between the two winners will be on Sunday at 1 p.m. The entire tournament will be carried on ESPN+.
WOMEN’S SOCCER (13-3-4, 6-0-2 CUSA)
No. 2 seed Liberty picked up a 4-1 triumph over No. 7 seed Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinal round of the CUSA Women’s Soccer Championship on Sunday as the Lady Flames and Osborne Stadium serve as the host site for the championship. The Lady Flames conceded an early goal after a misplay on the edge of the 18-yard box. Louisiana Tech’s Ashley Leonhart released as trike off a deflected cross to open the scoring in the third minute. Liberty would break through with the equalizer in the 13th minute as CUSA Player of the Year Ivy Garner notched the goal. The senior forward came back in the 25th minute with another goal. Liberty extended the lead by way of Halle Engle in the 29th minute and notched the final goal in the 37th minute from Isabella Wedemeyer.
On Tuesday, Ivy Garner helped power the Lady Flames past No. 3 seed Sam Houston, 2-0, to advance to the championship match. Forcing a penalty kick after a handball was called in the sixth minute, Garner scored off the penalty kick, Liberty’s first of the season and Garner’s first of her career. She would score her second goal of the game and fourth of the championship in the 55th minute to tie the CUSA record for goals in the CUSA championship. Liberty’s defense held the Bearkats to a single shot with none on goal.
Liberty will play the surprise of the tournament in No. 8 seed Missouri State who has picked up two upsets on their way to the championship round. The title will kick off at noon on Friday from Osborne Stadium in Lynchburg.
MEN’S SOCCER (8-4-6, 4-2-4 OVC)
The Liberty Flames and the Houston Christian Huskies played to a scoreless draw Thursday evening. Liberty entered the contest with 15 points and in second place in the OVC standings, two points ahead of HCU. Defensive play by each team limited shot attempts throughout the contest. The Flames held the host Huskies to six shots, while HCU allowed Liberty 12 shots during the 90 minutes.
In the regular season finale, Incarnate Word edged the Flames, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon. The host Cardinals scored on their first shot of the game, netting the contest’s lone goal during the sixth minute. UIW then limited the Flames to seven shots in the defensive match for the victory. Liberty held UIW to six shots in the game but could not find the equalizer allowing UIW to pick up their first and only win in OVC play during the regular season.
With the regular season complete, Liberty will travel to the 2025 OVC Men’s Soccer Championship in St. Charles, Missouri, beginning on Nov. 9. The 3-seed, Liberty will play the No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois int he quarterfinals with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. at Hunter Stadium on the campus of Lindenwood.
VOLLEYBALL (18-7, 6-6 CUSA)
Liberty posted a pair of wins over Delaware during the weekend in Newark, including a 3-0 sweep on Saturday at the Bob Carpenter Center. The wins allowed Liberty to even its conference record at 6-6. On Saturday, although the match featured 17 ties and nine lead changes, Liberty built comfortable leads in all three sets, not letting Delaware reach 20 points in any set.
The Lady Flames head to Springfield, Missouri to take on CUSA newcomer Missouri State, Friday and Saturday. Liberty is currently in 6th place in the CUSA standings and just one game ahead of the 5-7 Bears.
