Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University field hockey team scored in the final seconds to earn a 2-1 victory against Radford University (2-19) in a Northern Pacific Field Hockey Tournament consolation match at the Athletics Complex in Farmville on Friday evening. Freshman
Jennifer Burris|Virginia Beach (Kempsville) notched the game-winner for the Lancers in the squad's season finale. With the win, Longwood closes out the 2012 season with an 8-13 overall record.
“It was an exciting end to the game,” said head coach
Iain Byers. “We left it late again. Jen Burris came up with a clutch goal with seconds to go and we're very proud. This was a great way to send off our seniors and it was fully deserved. We've had a really tough year. We've battled through a lot of adversity and come out stronger on the other side. We are really proud of the four years of effort that these seniors have put in and we think we have a really nice platform to build off of over the next couple of years.”
The squads battled for possession in an evenly-matched first half. Radford took a slight, 7-6 shot advantage in the opening half, although neither team could find the back of the cage for more than 27 minutes of play.
The Lancers broke the game open on a good recovery following a penalty corner by the Highlanders. Longwood cleared the corner attempt before senior
Christina Verhulst|Yorktown (Grafton) and junior
Stacey de Grandhomme|Cape Town, South Africa (Table View) took off on a 2-on-1 fast break opportunity. Verhulst dribbled into the left side of the circle and dished a pass across the cage to de Grandhomme near the right post for the tip in to give LU a 1-0 lead.
Radford had a chance to retaliate on a corner with just over three minutes left in the first half, but the goal was called back after hitting a Highlander foot en route to the cage, sending RU into the break down by one.
Coming out of halftime, the teams played through another 16 minutes of scoreless action before Radford was able to get on the board and knot the game at 1-1. The Highlanders converted on a penalty corner, as a pass from Jana Bayer found Stacey Mackintosh for the shot and goal.
The squads continued to play back-and-forth, battling for control of the game's momentum. With less than a minute to play, the Lancers made a final push up the field before Burris took control of the ball on the left side of the cage, made a move around a RU defender and chipped a shot that rang the back of the cage to seal the 2-1 victory for Longwood.
Friday's match marked the 31st meeting between Longwood and Radford in the sport of field hockey. With the Longwood victory, the all-time series is now tied, 14-14-3.
The NorPac Tournament will conclude on November 3 with the third place game between the No. 3 East seed Davidson and the No. 3 West seed California at 11 a.m. followed by the championship match between Liberty and Stanford, the No. 1 seeds from the East and West Divisions, respectively, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
