September 16, 2006
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va.-- Longwood University walked away with a 2-1 win over Georgetown Saturday afternoon at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. The win put the Lancers at 2-4 on the season, while the Hoyas fell to 2-4. Longwood will host in-state rival VCU Sunday, September 17 at 1 p.m. at Longwood’s new Athletics Complex in Farmville.
In the opening 35 minutes, Longwood pressured Georgetown’s defense and goalkeeper Deirdre Crovo out shooting the Hoyas, by a count of 9-4. The Lancer looked to go ahead 1-0 mid-way through the first half, when a loose ball in front of the Georgetown net was hit in by a Longwood forward, but the goal was waved off, keeping the game scoreless.
“We had some great opportunities early on in the circle that we have to finish on,” stated head coach Nancy Joel.
Longwood did just that with 7:09 to go in the first half, when sophomore Carra Bunner/Virginia Beach (Kempsville) took a pass from freshman Julia Hernandez/Norfolk (Maury) from the outside and swept a shot over the goalie’s right shoulder for her first goal of the season, and a 1-0 lead.
Coming out of the halftime break both teams battled for possession until the Lancers converted a penalty corner on a bang-bang play with 15:20 to go in the game. Bunner slid the ball to the top of the circle where Hernandez stopped the ball right in front of junior Katie Claxton/ Virginia Beach (Frank W. Cox), one-timing it to the back left corner for a two goal cushion.
“It was great to see the girls hard work pay off on the penalty corner,” said Joel. “We’ve been working all week on that and now we have our confidence back. Our forwards did a great job of playing off each other and getting behind the Hoyas’ defense.”
Led by senior Katie Murphy/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) and junior Erin Murphy/Stafford (North Stafford) Longwood buckled down on defense keeping all but one shot in front of them, as Georgetown pressed in the final 15 minutes. Junior keeper Erin West/Stafford (North Stafford) only let one goal get by her in the win, stopping six, while her Crovo tallied six saves and two goals against.
“Our defense played very well today,” stated Joel. “Both Erin and Katie came up big when we needed them and Erin had some great stops in net.”
Longwood held an edge in shots 13-10, while the Hoyas nine penalty corners in the second gave them a 9-3 advantage.
