September 2, 2007

BOX SCORE

RICHMOND, Va.-- Longwood University field hockey came up short in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Delaware at Richmond.  The Lancers (0-4) tied the contest on a penalty corner six minutes into the second half but two quick goals by Delaware (4-0) in a five minute span gave the Blue Hens the 3-1 win, remaining undefeated for the season.  Longwood will return to action on Wednesday, September 5, when they host Stanford in a 7 p.m. NorPac Conference match-up.

The Blue Hens controlled the opening minutes of the game keeping the majority of play in the Longwood defense.  Delaware’s Tori Karsten put a penalty stroke shot past a diving Avanell Schmitz/Newport News (Denbigh) at the 31:41 mark of the first half for the early 1-0 lead.  The Blue Hens continued to pressure Longwood’s back line out shooting Longwood 5-1 through the first thirty-five.  

Longwood wasted no time out of the halftime break, tying the score at 1-1 on a perfectly executed penalty corner just six minutes into the second half.  Katie Claxton/Virginia Beach (Frank W. Cox) sent the ball in to the stick stopper Cristin Newbold/Norfolk (Maury) setting up Kelsey Turner/Virginia Beach (Tallwood) who fired a shot in the cage tying the score at one.  The Blue Hens struck a short time later to go ahead 2-1 on a penalty corner goal Molly Burke with under twenty-four minutes remaining.  The Lancers kept up the pressure in Delaware’s end looking for the equalizer.  The Bleu Hens tallied a goal five minutes later to push the game out of reach of the Lancers.

Schmitz finished the contest with five saves in seventy minutes of action.

“We are really starting to come along and this weekend reflects that,” stated head coach Nancy Joel.  “We did some good things and will be ready to go on Wednesday night for our first NorPac game against Stanford.”