STANFORD, Calf.-- Longwood University field hockey fell 4-2 to Davidson Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) Tournament held at Stanford.  The Lancers (6-15) will return to action on Saturday, November 3 at 12:30 p.m. (ET) while Davidson (10-18) will play #1 seeded California Friday, November 2, at 3:30 p.m. (ET). 
  

Longwood came out aggressive in the opening ten minutes, drawing four penalty corners, including two in the opening 2:22 of the contest.  On the Lancers second penalty corner of the game, sophomore Julia Hernandez/Norfolk (Maury) picked up the rebound from a shot by senior Katie Claxton/Virginia Beach (Frank W. Cox) that beat Davidson’s Christa Goeke, but was hit out by defender Jen Willis to keep the game scoreless.  After a flurry of action on both ends, the Wildcats opened up the scoring with 18:34 left in the first half.  Davidson’s Britt Himelfarb picked up her own rebound and fired a shot that was deflected in the air and knocked in off the blocker of Longwood’s keeper Avanell Schmitz/Newport News (Denbigh) for the 1-0 lead.
 

Out of the halftime break the Longwood offense had the Wildcats on their heels and knotted the score at one on a goal by senior Erin Murphy/Stafford (North Stafford) 7:49 into the second half.  The goal was Murphy’s first goal of the season.  Junior Carla Binnewies/Hamburg, Germany (Carl von Ossietzkly Gymnasium) placed a free hit just inside the top of the circle that Murphy one timed in the back of the cage to knot the score at one.
 

Davidson regained the lead seven minutes later, on a penalty corner shot by Eleanor Cowley.  Cowley took a pass from Himelfarb and flicked the ball over Schmitz for the 2-1 score with 25:51 left in the game.
 

The Lancers came right back on a penalty corner of their own as Binnewies took the insert pass from sophomore Melissa Strickland/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) and carried it along the left side, before putting a reverse chip past Goeke to put the game 2-2 with 18:34 remaining in the game. 
 

The Wildcats got the go ahead goal with 16:51 remaining in the game on a put back shot by Catherine Ransone for the 3-2 score.  Ransone picked up the loose ball on the left hand side of the circle and ripped through traffic to take the lead for good.  With the Lancers pressing in the final moments of the game Davidson’s Kayli Maxwell took a through ball and tacked on the final goal of the game with 0:28 left for the 4-2 final.
 

Schmitz finished the game with nine saves while Goeke tallied eight.  Davidson out shot Longwood 18-14 while Longwood held an edge in penalty corners 11-10.