October 7, 2005

BOX SCORE

RICHMOND, Va. -- Longwood University earned a 3-2 first hockey decision over visiting Appalachian State in its first Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) game this afternoon at Carey Street Field in Richmond. The Lancers improved their record to 4-7 and 1-0 in the NorPac, while the Mountaineers fell to 2-11 on the year and 0-5 in conference. Longwood will be back in action when they play at Radford on Sunday, October 9. Game time is slated for 2:00 p.m.

"A win is a win," said head coach Nancy Joel. "We need to capitalize on early opportunities to ensure sealing a victory quickly. Our forwards are combing beautifully but we are still shaky in the midfield. We need to pay attention to this before we travel for our three conference games in California. Our next game is against Radford who is leading the east division of the conference."

Longwood took a 1-0 lead 10:31 into contest when sophomore Cristin Newbold/Norfolk (Maury) scored her fifth goal of the season. Appalachian State responded quickly, knotting the game 1-1 with a goal less than two minutes later. Erica Muscamp was credited with the goal.

Junior Anne Hundley/Norfolk (Granby) put the Lancers up 2-1 at 15:49. Senior Alexis Ramey/Westminster (Marina) took a corner, which Newbold laid off to senior Sarah Hitchings/Virginia Beach/Kempsville). Hitchings cut the ball inside and laid a pass off the Hudley, who scored past Mountaineer goalkeeper Kate Ryno.

Longwood increased its lead to 3-1 at the 53:19 mark when Ramey collected a shot that rebounded off Ryno‘s pads and scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season.  

Appalachian State cut Longwood’s lead to one when  Alison Gradischer scored on a penalty stroke with less than 15 minutes to play in the contest.

Longwood held the 12-7 advantage in shots and held the 3-2 edge in penalty corners. Sophomore goalkeeper Avanell Schmitz/Newport News (Denbigh) made four saves for the Lancers, while Ryno made three for ASU.