September 25, 2010

Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va. - The Longwood University field hockey team dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to NorPac rival Radford University (7-3, 1-1 NorPac) on Saturday afternoon at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. Senior Lauren van de Kamp | Midlothian (Trinity Episcopal) and junior Sarah Bietsch | Chambersburg, Pa. (Chambersburg Area) each scored for the Lancers (2-7, 0-1 NorPac). Longwood returns to action on Tuesday, September 28, when they host the top-ranked University of North Carolina at 5 p.m. at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. Following the match, the movie Toy Story 3 will be shown on the soccer field at 8 p.m.. Admission is free and the community is welcome at both events.

“It was disappointing, all the way around,” said third-year head coach Iain Byers. “Losing a conference game is always disappointing. The team was unhappy with the way they played in the first half and we have vowed to make sure it never happens again. To get as many shots and not score is frustrating to coaches and players. It is something we need to fix.”

The Lancers struck first in the 21st minute, when van de Kamp took a pass from junior Olga Knop | Berlin, Germany (Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium) on the left post and scored, putting Longwood ahead 1-0. The Highlanders (7-3, 1-1 NorPac) answered in the 25th minute when Courtney Poole scored from right in front of the cage to tie the match at 1-1. Radford quickly added another goal to pull ahead 2-1 in the 29th minute. Both teams launched seven shots in the first half.

Longwood evened the score in the second half when Bietsch took a pass from sophomore Christina Verhulst | Yorktown (Grafton) and found the cage from the right side. The Lancers kept pushing, out-shooting Radford 14-2 in the second half. Longwood had a chance to win in regulation when senior Kimberly Sullivan | Fredericksburg (Stafford) ripped a shot that was stopped by the Radford goalkeeper, who could not clear the ball. Freshman Anne Pishko | Norfolk (Maury) collected the loose ball but her shot sailed wide.

Once overtime started, the Lancers controlled play early, launching two shots and taking a pair of corners in the first four minutes. Radford converted on its first penalty corner of overtime, when Kay Tufts scored from the edge of the circle on the right side off a pass from Marlee Schramm with 5:25 remaining on the clock.

Longwood out-shot Radford 25-11 for the game and had a 10-8 advantage in penalty corners, including 6-2 after halftime. Freshman goalkeeper Kaye Goulding | Tickhill, England (Wakefield Girls) recorded five saves in 79:35 in goal while Jennifer Wisniewski stopped 12 shots. Senior Lauren Sullivan | Fredericksburg (Stafford) and freshman Stacey de Grandhomme | Cape Town, South Africa (Table View) each took a game-high five shots.