ASU Women’s Hockey: Sun Devils swept by No. 1 Liberty

(Photo Courtesy: Billy Wuneburger)

Tempe – Arizona State Club Women’s Hockey lost 8-2 to the Liberty Flames, getting swept in the weekend series.

Liberty wouldn’t take long picking up from Friday’s game. Sophomore forward Haley Battles skated into the ASU zone with three Sun Devils on her and wristed a backhand that slid past junior goaltender Haley McClelland. Battles’ third of the series made it 1-0, just 52 seconds in.

The Flames would keep their torrid goal-scoring going as junior forward Carly Glover walked in and shot the puck right past McClelland for Liberty’s second goal of the game. Junior forward Brityn Fussy would assist Glover’s goal.

The Sun Devils couldn’t stop Glover as she danced between ASU defensemen before depositing the puck into the net. At least it seemed that way. The officials huddled in a corner of the rink, talking for a second until ruling the play as no goal. The net was dislodged before the puck entered the net which gave ASU a huge break.

As the period entered its final minute, Liberty hoped to score one more goal before the first. With a slapshot from the faceoff dot, sophomore defenseman Madison Glynn’s shot went past McClelland’s glove hand for the third goal by Liberty.

Glynn’s goal made it 3-0 to end the first period. ASU even still behind by a decent margin was managing more shots than last game. ASU this time had six while giving up 20 shots to Liberty. McClelland made some incredible saves once again and the top line for ASU had some excellent chances to beat freshman goalie Alexandra Keith, but Keith had some great saves on her end as well.

“I think we definitely improved from last game,” junior forward Sydney Paulsen said. “We definitely knew we could score on this goalie. We used that energy going into tonight’s game.”

“We learned a lot from yesterday and we definitely brought it with us tonight,” senior forward Jill Ketchum said.

The second period granted ASU with an opportunity, as Liberty as junior defenseman Priscilla Ziefle was sent to the box for high sticking. Liberty’s powerplay drove the play outside its zone for most of the powerplay. Battles slid a pass to junior forward Rianna Spanier for a slapshot from the faceoff circle that went in. That would be Spanier’s fourth goal of the weekend and the fourth goal for Liberty.

Liberty found a new way to beat ASU, slapshots from the outer areas of the zone. The defense decided to join in the offensive fun, as sophomore defenseman Sammy Pebbles took a slapshot from the blueline that zoomed past McClelland into the net. It appeared the Flames were well on their way to a high-scoring game again with a 5-0 lead.

Sophomore forward Elle McKenna responded to the goal soon, skating into the zone and laying a top-shelf shot past Keith. McKenna celebrated her third of the weekend and second goal Keith has given up in her five games, making the score 5-1.

“I love working with Elle and Mason (Walker),” Paulsen said. “I think we can find each other out there. Getting assists, getting shots, crashing the net is what we’ve been doing this series.”

ASU’s issues of staying out of the box continued. Two separate penalties were taken by graduate forward Sheridan Gloyd but with McClelland standing on her head, ASU killed both.

“Halles amazing and she does a great job,” Paulsen said. “She keeps us in every game and always gives 100% all the time. We all love her.”

“Halle played great both games,” Ketchum said. “60 shots is a lot. I don’t know what it’s like to be a goalie but I can only imagine how she must’ve felt out there. She must’ve felt tired but she didn’t give up. She never does so I’m really proud of her.”

Liberty had a rare visit to the box and even more rare, gave ASU a five-on-three opportunity. It seemed the Flames were not fazed by the disadvantage, easily killing both penalties.

Liberty’s passing play was strong and Liberty decided to flex with a nice tic-tac-toe play heading into the ASU zone. Battles slid it right to senior forward Linzy Jedrzejek, who slid it into the empty net, marking the seventh goal of the game for Liberty.

Jedrzejek’s goal would end the second period. Shots for the second period totaled 40 for Liberty and 11 for ASU.

The third period would start with a defensive battle between the two teams. Both Keith and McClelland kept pucks out of the net until late in the period. A scrum in front of the net with the puck bouncing around ended up on Ketchum’s stick and bounced in. Ketchum’s goal would be assisted by graduate forward Mason Walker and senior defenseman Berkleigh Radcliffe, cutting the lead to 7-2.

“We won that period,” Ketchum said. “It was a pretty good feeling. We had a really good period at the end there. I’m pretty proud of all of us.”

Senior forward Yanick Truter didn’t want ASU to leave the game on any sort of high note. Truter with a pass from Glover gave a backhanded shot to McClelland who couldn’t save it, putting a nail in the coffin for the 8-2 victory.

Truter’s goal pretty much ended the game as ASU fell 8-2 to Liberty. While ASU kept Liberty’s goal total to single digits this time, they still couldn’t put more than two goals past Keith and Liberty’s defense. The final shots were 59 for Liberty and 19 for ASU.

“I think going into our next game, we want to focus getting back into our structure,” Paulsen said. “In the third period we were tied with them, we were matching them. As long as we keep that, we’ll do well.”

“We got three weeks off until we see each other again and until next practice,” Ketchum said. The games come shortly after that. We know we need to keep pushing ourselves whenever we can so we’re going to do it.”

Even with the back-to-back losses, the team is still looking on the bright side.

“We’ve been pretty positive after both games,” Ketchum said. “We gave it our all. We learned some more things today after playing both games. We know what we can do better next time. We’re putting it in the past and staying positive. We’re a happy group.”

ASU now falls to 7-3-0 in the season, dropping its last three games and allowing more than four goals in each of its losses. The Sun Devils’ next game is against St. Norbert College on December 30th.