Hockey / Lindenwood-Belleville, Liberty Advance to Women's D-I Finals

Lindenwood-Belleville, Liberty Advance to Women's D-I Finals

Date:  Source: ACHA Nationals

 

FRISCO, Texas​ -- The American Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association hosted the 2019 National Tournament Semifinals games on March 30 at the Comerica Center. No. 3 Lindenwood-Belleville faced off with No. 2 Adrian College, while No. 1 Liberty University took on No. 5 Miami University. 

Lindenwood-Belleville’s ​Ashley Dietmeier and and Lindsay Gillis put the Lynx up 2-0 after period one against ​Adrian College​. Gillis and Dakota McAlpine with the assists on go-ahead first goal while Tessa O’Connor assisted on the Gillis goal. 9:56 into the second period McAlpine would find her own goal to give the Lynx a 3-0 lead over the No. 2 team in the nation. Marissa Delry would up the score to 4-0 with two minutes left in the second with help from Dietmeier and McAlpine. Adrian College would begin their scoring streak with seven left in the final period of the first semifinal game of the day. Nicole Paradis would send a shot on net for Brittany Levasseur to put in, giving the Bulldogs their first goal of the game. Thirty seconds left in the third, with the Bulldog goaltender pulled, Kaillie Hardy would put in goal two. Kyleen Wilson with the helper from the point. Hannah Stone picked up her third win of the tournament in the defeat of Adrian, making 23 saves on 25 shots faced from the Bulldogs to send Lindenwood-Belleville to the National Championship game. Dana Colombo made 31 saves on 35 shots on net. 

In the second semifinal game of the day, ​Liberty University​ would find the first two goals of the game, with Aly Morris and Emily John with the goals. The assists for the Flames would come from Vanessa Demerchant and Morris. Goal three for Liberty would come at 3:13 into the second period after a pass from Dermerchant for her second assist. Liberty with a 3-0 lead heading into the final frame would put the pressure onto Miami for goals. Christiana VonAulock would come through with her first goal of the tournament to give the Redhawks some life. However Rachel Gibson of Liberty would suppress any comeback for Miami as she would put in goal four to secure the three goal win. In between the pipes for Miami was Ripley Crosley who made 32 saves on 36 shots while Nadia Rupoli stopped 20 of 21 shots for Liberty to advance to the National Championship again.