Finals Recap
Liberty grabbed the lead early and scored some late goals to secure their Big East Championship and NCAA tournament spot.
The early Liberty goal came 1:34 in, from Daniella Rhodes. Under 20 seconds later, Old Dominion received a penalty corner, but Liberty's goalie saved it. ODU then got another corner but nothing came of it. Liberty was able to get the ball down to their side, and Cam MacGillivray saved a shot from Lizzie Hamlett. The website does not have anything occurring again until an Old Dominion corner in the 13th, but that shot was saved.
The only statistic recorded in the second period was a shot by Liberty that was saved.
The third quarter started with a penalty corner by Old Dominion. The initial shot was saved, and the rebound shot went wide. In the 35th minute, Liberty took a penalty corner. The initial shot was blocked and the rebound went wide. A minute later Old Dominion received a penalty corner, and both shots taken were blocked.
In the 50th minute, Sanci Mokenboer got a goal off a penalty corner to tie the game. They then took another corner, but could not get anything from it. Liberty got a corner in the 53rd. and after the initial shot was blocked, the rebound was scored by Bethany Dykema. With 20 seconds left on the clock, Pima Iturraspe found Martu Cian to make the score 3-1 in favor of Liberty.
Finals Preview
*Liberty's website is currently down, the article will be updated when it is back up*
How they got here:
Old Dominion went 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big East. Their Big East loss came in overtime against UConn, and their other loss came against William & Mary in August. Their scoring average is the 6th highest in D1, with 3.25. Their scoring margin is the 2nd highest in D1 with 2.48.
Key players:
Old Dominion:
Marlon de Bruijne - de Bruijne is a junior forward from the Netherlands. She has 14 goals and 6 assists this season. She is tied for 9th in D1 for goals per game with .88.
Frederique Zandbergen - Zandbergen is a sophomore midfielder from the Netherlands. She has 4 goals and 14 assists this season. She is 4th in D1 for assists per game with 0.81.
Cam MacGillivray - MacGillivray is a graduate goalie from Canada. Her goals-against average is 0.91, only allowing 16 this season. This is the third-best in D1. She has 79 saves this season for a 0.832 save percentage, which is the highest in D1.
Liberty:
Daniella Rhodes - The senior forward has scored 10 goals and 10 assists this season.
Lizzie Hamlet - The senior forward has scored 10 goals this season
Azul Iritxity Iriogoyen - The junior goalie for Liberty has allowed 18 goals against her this season, posting a 1.076 GAA, the 9th best in D1. She has had 45 saves this season, giving her a 0.714 save percentage.
Previous Matchups:
The last time these teams played each other was last weekend, which results in a 1-0 win for the Monarchs in overtime.
Overall, Liberty leads the series with 8 wins and 7 losses. In the last 10 games, they have gone 5-5.
Prediction:
Liberty has a 53% chance of winning the Big East finals, but I expect that this will be aa close game and perhaps an overtime thriller.
Semifinals Recap
Old Dominion vs. Temple
60 minutes was not enough time to decide a victor, this game needed 80+ minutes.
The first two quarters went scoreless, with both teams having 2 shots and 1 save each.
Caitlyn Amsden scored the first goal for Temple in the 38th minute. Under four minutes later Peyton Rieger gave Temple the 2-0 lead. In the 44th minute, Devin Kinzel got a green card for Temple and with the numbers-up situation, Courtney Lynch put ODU on the board.
In a little under 5 minutes into the final quarter, Sanci Molkenboer put another in for ODU tying the game at 2-2. In the 55th minute, Delphine Le Jeune scored to give the Monarchs the lead. Peyton Reiger did not let that last long, scoring in the 57th minute. Regulation ended with the game at 3-3.
In overtime, neither team could come up with anything and the game headed into shootouts.
Old Dominion won in shootouts thanks to Ca MacGillivray in goal.
Old Dominion will play Liberty in the finals on Sunday.
Liberty vs. UConn
UConn's early goal was not enough to beat Liberty in the semifinals/
The game started with a goal from Julia Bressler in the 2nd minute of the game. UConn led the offense in the first quarter with ten shots. Liberty had none.
Whatever Liberty's coach said to them in the break between quarters was effective, however. In the second quarter, Liberty led in shots 4-3. Martu Cian was able to score for Liberty and tie the game.
In the third quarter, only one shot was taken from each team. Both teams were given green cards during the quarter, but neither opportunity was capitalized.
Jodie Conolly scored the game-winner for Liberty in the 46th minute.
In goal for Liberty, Azul Iritxity Irigoyen had a total of 9 saves sending them to the finals against ODU on Sunday.
Semifinals Preview
The Big East Semifinals start on Friday at 1 pm.
The matches are as follows:
Game 1: Old Dominion vs. Temple
Game 2: Liberty vs. UConn
Old Dominion vs. Temple
Old Dominion has a 7 game-winning streak against Temple at the moment, with Temple's last win coming in 2016. Their overall record is 10 wins for Old Dominion and 3 wins for Temple.
In the last game between the Monarchs and the Owls two weeks ago, ODU won 2-0.
Based on the five games played between the two since 2019, Old Dominion has a 78% chance of winning.
Liberty vs. UConn
UConn had an 8 game winning streak before Liberty beat them in the shortened spring season. When they faced each other in late September, Liberty had a clean sweep, with a 4-0 win. Liberty has now won 4 games in a row.
The overall record between the two teams favors UConn 8-4.
Liberty is predicted to have a 64% chance of winning the game, and moving on to the finals.