FARMVILLE, Va. – Senior Stacey de Grandhomme/Cape Town, South Africa recorded a pair of goals and one defensive save to lead the Longwood University field hockey team on both sides of the ball, as the squad earned a 3-1 victory against Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) opponent Davidson College (4-7, 0-3 NorPac) on Sunday afternoon at the Athletics Complex. With the victory, Longwood improves to 3-0 in conference action, as well as 5-7 overall. Sophomore Nicole Deckard/Selinsgrove, Pa. added one goal and her first career assist for a personal-best three total points. Longwood welcomes NorPac and in-state rival Liberty University for the squad's Think Pink game on Wednesday, October 9 at 4:30 p.m.

"Today's result doesn't really show how the game went," said head coach Iain Byers. "I think we were very efficient with our front group. We didn't create too many opportunities, but the ones we did, we definitely executed on and that was the difference in the game. It's ironic, considering we have had other games this year where we have definitely performed better, but didn't get the result or goals needed to show that.

"If we can mirror a good performance and be efficient in front of the cage against Liberty, then that is going to put us in good standing. We are 3-0 in conference right now, so to go 4-0 would keep us on top of the standings. That's very important, so this is a big game on Wednesday. We've got a lot of work to do, but we're going to work hard for two days and make whatever changes we need to make to be efficient and create lots of opportunities."

Sophomore Kim Ruiter/Huizen, the Netherlands and freshman Ellen Ross/Virginia Beach logged one assist each in the outing. Sophomore Emily Leonard/Virginia Beach registered her first career defensive save, as well. Senior goalkeeper Kaye Goulding/Tickhill, England recorded 12 saves in the complete game performance.

Longwood attacked quickly with the first shot of the game, as freshman Vanessa Tapper/Virginia Beach took control of the ball alone in circle and scooped an attempt off the pads of the diving Wildcats keeper, Carolyn Macek. Davidson followed with its first of 10 corners on the day, giving Melissa Funsten back-to-back chances, including one on cage that was saved by Goulding. The Wildcats continued to attack, logging five shots and a pair of corners on a long possession, but Longwood played strong defense with four stops by Goulding and a defense save by Leonard. The Lancers carried that momentum into its offensive zone, taking a 1-0 lead on a give-and-go from Ruiter to Deckard with just over 18 minutes left to play in the half. Longwood was then able to strike once again before the period expired, as Ross dished a good pass to the left side of the circle for a hard one-timer from de Grandhomme that snuck under the crossbar to give the Lancers a 2-0 edge at halftime.

Davidson opened the second half with another corner opportunity, but the high shot from Katherine English was batted away by de Grandhomme in front of the cage. The Lancers pulled ahead, 3-0, less than 10 minutes into the half when the squad executed a clean passing sequence down the field that was capped off by Deckard's dish to de Grandhomme for a slow-rolling tip past the opposing keeper, who was caught out too far. The Wildcats retaliated with three-straight shots, all of which were turned away by the Longwood defense. Davidson would not go quietly, however, converting on a penalty corner opportunity to cut the deficit to just two goals. Funsten took the initial shot on the corner before teammate Anna Davis collected the rebound off of Goulding's pads and took a turn-around shot that found the back of the cage. Neither side was able to strike in the final 10 minutes of the match, sealing the 3-1 victory for the Lancers.

Sunday's contest marked the 27th meeting between the Lancers and the Wildcats in the sport of field hockey. With the Longwood win, the all-time series is now tied, 13-13-1.