LYNCHBURG, Va. - After a very exciting win on Friday night, DU stayed in Lynchburg to try and complete the weekend sweep of Liberty University. After falling behind early 1-0, Davenport scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead into the third. The Panthesr wen on to win 4-2 to complete the weekend sweep. Davenport returns home next weekend when they host #3 Ohio University for a pair of games at Patterson Ice Center.

Liberty and Davenport came out in the first 5 minutes of the game with a very uptempo style.  Both teams were flying around the ice and getting very good scoring opportunities. After the first 5 minutes the Flames started to dominate play. The Panthers called on their goaltender Joe D'Elia to make save after save. Liberty would strike first after D'Elia made a couple of key saves, Luke Baumgarter slid one past D'Elia to take a 1-0 lead. 
 
The lead would not last long, as the goal seemed to wake up the Panthers.  The coaching staff called on the "Tryout Line" of Kevin Noble, Zack Blumke, and Blake Damerow to take DU's next shift. Kevin Noble, at the 10:47 mark of the first period, responded 16 seconds after Liberty's goal to tie the game at one. 
 
"The tryout line has been one of our best lines so far this year.  They are all freshman and have played with a lot of confidence when they are on the ice together. We saw the line in tryouts and it clicked then, and after a couple losses we tried the line out, and it clicked again,” said head coach Phil Sweeney.
 
Davenport would dominate the rest of the first period.  Davenport scored the next three goals of the game, two of which came in the first period.  Mason Bohlinger, would get the next tally as he finished off a great passing play between himself, Taylor Keyworth, and Ben Dykstra.  The three players came down on a 3-2 and all three guys touched the puck. Keyworth sprung Bohlinger for the top of the circles in with a great one time pass that confused the Liberty defenseman and Bohlinger delivered by beating Liberty's Clayton Brown's glove side. 
 
Two minutes later Dustin Wischmeyer hoped on the board with a rebound goal on a shot from Jeff Slusser to give DU a 3-1 lead.  Davenport would take a 3-1 lead into the locker room after a very impressive first period. 
 
In the second period the pace of play was again at a high rate that seemed to suit the Panthers.  Davenport is a very young team this season, but they have a lot of speed.  The constant pressure on Liberty took its toll and the Flames took a slashing call at the 7:00 mark. This would prove to be a big penalty as Davenport took a commanding three goal lead after Dustin Wischmeyer knocked home another rebound after a shot from Jeff Slusser. Davenport switched up their set up and it seemed to make a big difference, as on all the power plays the Panthers were able to sustain pressure and the Panthers capitalized in what would be their final power play of the game at the 8:40 mark in the second period. DU would take a 4-1 lead into the final period of play and looked to cap off the weekend sweep of Liberty.
 
In between the second and third period the coaches stressed staying out of the penalty box and finishing off an impressive weekend on the road.  Liberty was able to score a goal on a 5-3 power play but the 4-2 score would be as close as the Flames would come to DU.  The Panthers played pretty disciplined from there on out and finished off Liberty to complete the weekend sweep in front of another rowdy crowd. 
 
Sophomore goalie Joe D'Elia played great, again, in net and stopped 38 of the 40 shots Liberty threw on net.  The Panthers will now have to refocus on another top notch opponent as DU faces off against #3 ranked Ohio University at Patterson Ice Center this upcoming weekend.  D'Elia was the goalie last season in the ACHA Division I semi-finals against Ohio when Davenport won 4-2 and moved onto the national championship game.  He shut down and frustrated the Bobcats as they peppered D'Elia in the game and DU will need similar performances from their goalies to beat a very talented Ohio team. 
 
Post-Game Quotes – Head Coach Phil Sweeney
 
"The boys played great this weekend in front of a hostile crowd.  Our penalty killing units and our defensive zone have improved tremendously over the past couple of weeks.  We will continue to work hard in practice and get ourselves ready for Ohio.  Our goalies played great this weekend and I could not ask for more.  Every night that they are in net is a night I am very confident that we can get a win.  Liberty is a very good team and to come out of Lynchburg with two wins I am very impressed with our team.  We have another tough opponent this weekend in Ohio.  I cannot wait to get back to practice on Tuesday and carry this momentum to this upcoming weekend."
 
Post-Game Notes
 
The win improves Davenport's overall record to 3-2...Davenport improves to 13-12-1 all-time against Liberty.

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