October 19, 2006

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va.-- The Longwood field hockey team scored its first goal against a ranked opponent to tie the game at 1-1 going into the halftime break, but the twelfth ranked Golden Bears went on to score four goals in the second half to grab a 5-2 win over Longwood Thursday evening.  The Lancers fall to 4-11 on the year and 1-2 in the conference, while Cal moves to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in NorPac matches.  Longwood will return to action on Sunday, October 22, to face the Stanford Cardinals in a 1 p.m. conference match-up.
    
Cal jumped on the board early, as Andrea Lo took advantage of loose ball in front of the net and fired it past junior keeper Erin West/Stafford (North Stafford) giving the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead just 1:13 into the match.  California kept the pressure on the following ten minutes, but the Lancer defense and West remained poise and kept the game at a one goal deficit.  
    
With 21:53 to go in the half, Longwood converted a penalty corner that came off the stick of freshman Kelsey Turner/Virginia Beach (Tallwood).  Cristin Newbold/Norfolk (Maury) took the inserting pass from Carra Bunner/Virginia Beach (Kempsville) and laid it off to Turner, who one-timed it past Veronica Sykes for her third goal of the season.  
    
The Golden Bears caught the Longwood defense on a quick transition late in the first half and attacked up the right sideline.  Valentina Godfrid stood all alone on the left side and one-timed a pass toward the Longwood net, but was denied by a diving West who made a tough stick save, to keep the game tied going into halftime.
    
Both teams battled for the go-ahead goal early in the second half, but Cal went ahead for good with 28:57 to go in the game on a goal by Gwen Belomy.  The Lancers regrouped and threatened early on but where unable to convert, keeping the score at 2-1.  Erin Murphy/Stafford (North Stafford) made a diving attempt to sneak a shot past Sykes on a cross from the right side, but came up short.  The Golden Bears went on to score three goals within twelve minutes to push their lead to 5-1.  Bunner tallied her third goal of the season late in the game, taking a ball from 20 yards out and beating Lisa Hauck, who subbed in for injured Sykes, with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
    
West had another strong performance in net, making ten saves, while Sykes finished with four in 66:28 of work.  Cal held a 21-11 edge in shots and 15-9 advantage in corners.
    
“I’m very proud of the way the team came out and played today,” said head coach Nancy Joel.  “This is our third game in eight days and we didn’t miss a step.  The team is in great condition and our midfield was strong.  Erin West gets stronger and stronger every game and we really hit our targets on penalty corners.”