FARMVILLE, Va. --  One of four seniors honored before the game, Longwood senior Leonie Verstraete stole the spotlight with three goals and an assist in Longwood field hockey's 4-3 win over Ohio Friday afternoon at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

Verstraete's hat trick is the first for the Lancers since her former teammate Abbey Rippley accomplished the feat Sept. 3, 2017 in a 5-1 win against Dartmouth, as Verstraete also added an assist on Sophia DeFeo's fourth goal of the season to hand Longwood head coach Iain Byers his 100th career victory with a career-high seven-point performance.

"Senior day is a tough day because the emotions are there and they really want to win, but I thought we handled all of that well," Byers said.

Byers has his field hockey program on the rise after Longwood secured at least its third straight season with a .500 record, after winning at least nine games in the last two seasons. Byers has also led Longwood to its first top 25 ranking in the RPI earlier this season while leading two of the MAC's top three leading scorers in Verstraete and Olivia Wawrzyniak.

"We have a close group with our team and coaches, so for us to do that for Iain [Byers] is special because he's done so much for us," DeFeo said. "He'd cut off an arm for us, so the fact that it's senior day, we worked well as a team, we got the win and we were able to secure Iain's 100th win was icing on the cake."

A product of Ultrecht, The Netherlands, Verstraete moves within one goal of former teammate Edel Nyland on Longwood's all-time goals list with 37 in her career, moving past Julie Dayton in Friday's game into seventh-place all-time and second-place in the Division I era. It marked the first career hat trick and seven-point game for the senior sniper, surpassing her previous best of five points with a two-goal effort with an assist a season ago against Central Michigan.

"Today was bittersweet because we're happy we got the win and it's a great feeling to score a hat trick, but it's also the last time that we'll play on our home turf," Verstraete said. "I'm sad that it's our last game here, but excited for the steps that we're continuing to take to get better."

The win hands Longwood (8-4, 3-2 MAC) the second-most wins in the Mid-American Conference, behind only Miami's perfect 4-0 mark in conference play. Ohio (4-8, 2-2 MAC) drops it fourth straight overall.

After Ohio tied the game at 2-all at the 10:20 mark in the second half on a redirection by Jillian Shive, Verstraete put the Lancers on her shoulders with back-to-back strikes coming in a span of 5:54 to hand her team a two-goal lead.

"It was a good goal by them but we were able to bounce back from it," Byers said. "Sometimes it's tough to take a shot like that, but we've shown time-and-time again that we're capable of doing it. We've done it in previous games, showing good determination and fight."

Katie Wyman picked up her eighth win of the season, allowing three goals on eight shots faced.

Wyman was aided by the play of her defensive unit – Rio Weber, Clara Meschini, Kourtney Landis, Kolbey Donahue and Mia Leeman – as that group combined to block a pair of shots.

Wyman bettered the performance of Ohio goalkeeper Alex Pennington, who made seven saves on 18 Longwood shots against.

Prior to the game, Longwood honored its quartet of seniors – DeFeo, Verstraete, Kourtney Landis and Elle Richardson – who have aided the Lancers to back-to-back MAC semifinal appearances, a record of at least .500 in the last three seasons and its first win over a top-25 opponent earlier this season against No. 20 Liberty.

"We've got a good group of seniors," Byers said. "We're going to miss them when they're gone and we're going to enjoy them while they're around still."

"This group means everything to me," Verstraete said. "We've been here for four years but it feels like two days because of the connection that we have with each other. It's something that will stay with us for a lifetime. We're literally best friends and I consider them my family."

Longwood will play its last three games on the road before the MAC Championship. That stretch begins Sunday, Oct. 14 against Villanova with first touch set for 12 p.m.

"Our next step on the road is Villanova, they're a good team so it'll be a tough game," Byers said. "One day rest and we're back at it. All of these games are a good test before the tournament starts."

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