September 5, 2009

Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University field hockey team dropped a heartbreaker to Lafayette College 3-2 in a stroke-off on Saturday afternoon at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. Junior Lauren van de Kamp/Midlothian (Trinity Episcopal) and sophomore Amanda Babineau/Stafford (Mountain View) each scored for the Lancers (1-2). Longwood returns to action on Friday, September 11, against La Salle in Philadelphia.

The first half was full of action as Longwood jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after van de Kamp took a pass from Taylor Bender/Harrisburg, Pa. (Central Dauphin) and scored only 2:14 into the game. Lafayette (1-0) answered with a Lindsay Majno goal off a loose ball in front of the net to even the game at 1-1 at the 18:41 mark. The Lancers responded with a goal by Babineau from Jessica Mantel/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) with 11:20 remaining in the first half. The Leopards would even the score at 2-2 going in to halftime with a Deanna DiCroce goal off a Bridget Hilbig pass.

Neither team would find much offense in the second half as Longwood attempted just two shots while Lafayette attempted three. The first 15-minute overtime saw each team take two shots and one penalty corner. Lafayette threatened to end the game in the second overtime period, attempting three shots, but freshman goalkeeper Amy Lewis/Lewisville, N.C. (Forsyth Country Day) recorded three saves, sending the match into a stroke-off.

Lafayette's DiCroce started the stroke-off and put one in the upper corner and van de Kamp buried the ball in the corner to tie it at 1-1 after the first round. Sophomore Olga Knop/Berlin, Germany (Wener-von-Siemens-Gymnasium) missed to the right on the second attempt for Longwood while the Leopards' Emily Valeo put them ahead 2-1 after two rounds. Alison Schoch made the third shot and then Lafayette goalkeeper Kelsey Andersen stopped Mantel's shot on the third attempt to put the Leopards ahead 3-1. Amanda Saber would score the game winner to put the game out of Longwood's reach.

“This was a hard-fought game in regulation and overtime,” said Longwood head coach Iain Byers. “If we have a few things go our way then we win. We learned we need to focus on executing in the circle, which is something we'll work on this week before we travel to Philadelphia.”

Lafayette outshot Longwood 12-10 and edged the Lancers in penalty corners 7-6. Nine of the 12 shots by Lafayette were on goal while only five of 10 were on goal for Longwood.