RICHMOND, Va. – A hat trick from Longwood junior forward Edel Nyland guided Longwood field hockey to a 4-3 exhibition win over the reigning Atlantic 10 regular-season champion Richmond in their first action of the 2016 season Saturday afternoon.

Nyland's three goals and another from sophomore forward Leonie Verstraete helped the Lancers edge a Spider squad that finished in first place in the A-10 and advanced to the A-10 Tournament championship game last season. The victory marked Longwood's first of the series versus Richmond in either exhibition or regular season action over the past five years.

"It was a really good game," said head coach Iain Byers. "There were a lot of lessons learned on both sides. We came out strong and scored a couple goals. We probably could've done a bit more of tightening up our backline toward the end of the game. But overall we learned a lot, which is the main goal of these scrimmages."

Longwood received a scoring burst from its standout forward Nyland, who scored her first goal after capitalizing on a play from inside the circle. She also found back of the cage on a penalty stroke and after tipping in a rebound off a shot taken by teammate Verstraete.

The Lancers sealed the win with the lone goal from Verstraete, who rounded out the scoring for the blue and white.

Following the end of regulation, the two teams also squared off in an extra overtime period that saw Richmond come out on top 1-0.

Longwood will now continue to prepare for its regular season opener at home versus Towson on Friday, August 26. The game is slated for a 3 p.m. start.

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