BIG EAST Champ No. 6 Liberty to Face No. 10 Syracuse in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

LYNCHBURG, Va. – BIG EAST common season and event champion No. 6 Liberty will face No. 10 Syracuse within the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship, Friday afternoon.
     
The Lady Flames (17-2) and the Orange (12-6) will sq. off at 2:30 p.m. at Princeton’s Bedford Field in Princeton, N.J. Liberty can be making its fourth NCAA Tournament look within the final 5 years and sixth total (2025, 2023, 2022, fall 2021, 2014, 2013).
     
The Lady Flames claimed the BIG EAST common season crown with an ideal 7-0 mark, their third time going unbeaten in league play within the final 5 seasons. Liberty, the No. 1 seed on the BIG EAST Championship, topped No. 2 seed UConn 2-1 in additional time in final Sunday’s title sport to assert its third BIG EAST crown in program historical past. Lou Combrinck, who scored the sport winner, was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Diane Saint Martin, Dara Semmartin and Morena Giacosa.
     
Meanwhile, Syracuse fifth within the ACC with a 3-5 mark and fell 3-2 (4-1 in penalty shootouts) to No. 4 Virginia within the ACC Championship semifinals.
     
This would be the second time within the final three seasons that the 2 faculties have met within the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, Syracuse edged Liberty 2-1 in additional time in an NCAA Sweet 16 sport performed at Duke. The solely different assembly between the 2 squads occurred in 2016, with the Orange prevailing 3-2 in additional time over the Lady Flames in a sport that was performed at Hofstra.
     
The winner of the Liberty/Syracuse contest will transfer on to the NCAA quarterfinals to face both No. 2 nationwide seed and No. 3-ranked Princeton (15-3) or No. 20 Fairfield (16-5). Fairfield Boston U squared off in a play-in sport on Wednesday afternoon, with the Stags prevailing 1-0. Princeton and Fairfield will meet within the first sport of the day at Bedford Field at midday, Friday.
     
Friday’s matchups will be seen on ESPN+.
 
NCAA Championship Opening Round, First and Second Round Games
Princeton’s Bedford Field, Princeton, N.J.
Friday (First Round/Sweet 16)
Noon – No. 3 Princeton (15-3) vs. No. 20 Fairfield (16-5)
2:30 p.m. – No. 6 Liberty (17-2) vs. No. 10 Syracuse (12-6)
 
Sunday (Second Round/Elite 8)
1 p.m. – Winners of first spherical video games
 
Liberty History within the NCAA Championship and History Versus the Four Teams

• NCAA Championship appearances for Liberty: 6 – 2013, 2014, Fall 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025
• NCAA Tournament file: 4-5
• NCAA Tournament wins: No. 20 Liberty topped Richmond 3-1 in a gap spherical sport on Nov. 12, 2014 on the Liberty Field Hockey Field. The No. 9 Lady Flames defeated No. 11 Saint Joseph’s 2-0 within the Sweet 16 on Nov. 12, 2021 at Rutgers’ Bauer Track and Field Hockey Complex. Liberty bested No. 1 Rutgers 3-2 (4-2 within the shootout) within the Elite 8 (Nov. 14, 2021). The Lady Flames edged No. 5 Maryland 3-2 in double additional time within the Final 4 (Nov. 19, 2021).
• NCAA Tournament losses: No. 20 Liberty misplaced 2-1 to No. 1 North Carolina in a primary spherical sport on Nov. 15, 2014 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Lady Flames fell to No. 14 Delaware 1-0 in a play-in sport on Nov. 13, 2013 in Newark, Del. Liberty misplaced 2-0 to No. 7 Northwestern within the 2021 National Championship Game (Nov. 21, 2021). The No. 13 Lady Flames dropped a 2-1 double additional time choice at No. 2 Maryland within the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16 (Nov. 11, 2022). No. 7 Liberty misplaced 2-1 in additional time to No. 10 Syracuse within the 2023 NCAA Sweet 16 (Nov. 10, 2023).
• Series historical past with Syracuse: This would be the third all-time matchup between Liberty and Syracuse and first since 2023. The Lady Flames fell 2-1 in additional time to the Orange within the first spherical of the 2023 NCAA Championship. The Orange edged the Lady Flames 3-2 in additional time at Hofstra on Sept. 3, 2016.
• Series historical past with Princeton: Liberty and Princeton have by no means met on the sector hockey pitch.
• Series historical past with Fairfield: The Lady Flames and Stags have by no means confronted one another.
• Series historical past with Boston U (eradicated on Wednesday): Liberty and Boston U have by no means squared off on the sector hockey pitch. Former Lady Flame Jodie Conolly, who was a 2023 NFHCA All-America first staff member whereas at Liberty, started her collegiate profession at with the Terriers (2019).
• What a win on Friday over Syracuse would imply: A win on Friday could be Liberty’s second ever victory within the NCAA Championship Round of 16. The different got here in the course of the fall 2021 season, when No. 9 Liberty bested No. 11 Saint Joseph’s 2-0 within the Sweet 16 (Nov. 12, 2021) at Rutgers.

Lady Flames News and Notes

• Liberty featured a pair of BIG EAST main award winners in unanimous BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Dara Semmartin and Goalkeeper of the Year Diane Saint Martin. Semmartin and Saint Martin, each All-BIG EAST first staff alternatives, have been joined on the primary staff by Lou Combrinck. The Liberty workers was named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Josefina Tomasi and Julieta Tornati garnered All-BIG EAST second staff honors.
• Saint Martin was named the NFHCA Division I Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after her efficiency eventually weekend’s BIG EAST Championship. The freshman goalkeeper posted a 2-0 file, 0.98 goals-against common, 9 saves and a .818 save proportion within the pair of wins over Villanova (semifinals) and No. 20 UConn (ultimate).
• Liberty claimed its third outright BIG EAST common season crown within the final 5 years and fourth total common season title in that span with an ideal 7-0 file in league play this fall.
• Liberty enters the NCAA Field Hockey Championship within the No. 6 slot in each the NCAA Field Hockey RPI itemizing and the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The Lady Flames have been listed among the many high 10 groups within the coaches ballot in all 10 common season weeks this season.
• Liberty is without doubt one of the high groups within the nation in a number of statistical classes. The Lady Flames rank No. 4 within the nation in profitable proportion (.895), No. 5 in goals-against common (0.88), No. 7 in shutouts per sport (0.42), No. 9 in scoring margin (1.86), No. 10 in assists per sport (2.79), No. 11 in save proportion (.767), No. 13 in factors per sport (8.37), No. 13 in penalty corners per sport (7.21) and No. 17 in scoring common (2.74). Liberty ranks first within the BIG EAST in all of these classes.
• Saint Martin leads the convention and ranks No. 4 within the nation in goalie win-loss proportion (.895), No. 5 in in goals-against common (0.84) and No. 10 in save proportion (.775). With eight shutouts, she is tied for essentially the most shutouts by a goalkeeper in a single season at school historical past.
• Semmartin, who has a program-record 16 assists this 12 months, ranks seventh nationally and first within the league in assists per sport (0.84). Combrinck is third within the BIG EAST and ranks twenty first within the nation in assists per sport (0.63).
• Liberty has three wins over-top 20 groups in 2025. This fall, the Lady Flames have defeated No. 5 Duke, No. 17 Appalachian State and No. 20 UConn. Two of these three squads (Duke and UConn) are within the NCAA Tournament subject.
• Liberty assistant coach Reagan Underwood can be squaring off together with her twin sister, Bryn, who’s the Director of Operations for Syracuse subject hockey.
• Syracuse’s head coach Lynn Farquhar, who’s in her third on the helm of the Orange, was the pinnacle coach of Saint Joseph’s in the course of the fall 2021 season when Liberty made its historic run to the nationwide championship sport. The Lady Flames bested the Hawks 2-0 within the opening spherical earlier than occurring to knock off No. 1 Rutgers 3-2 (4-2 in penalty shootouts) within the Elite 8. Liberty went on to edge No. 5 Maryland 3-2 in double additional time within the NCAA Final Four earlier than falling 2-0 to No. 7 Northwestern within the nationwide title sport.
• The journey that 12 months (fall 2021) began in New Jersey at Rutgers, and this 12 months’s postseason quest additionally begins in New Jersey, this time at Princeton.
• Duke will host the Final Four of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship on Nov. 21 and 23 at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium in Durham, N.C.