OXFORD, Ohio – Longwood field hockey brought grit and perseverance on the road on Friday to open conference play. Unfortunately for the Lancers, two late goals by reigning MAC champ Miami were enough to edge the Lancers (2-5, 0-1 MAC) 3-1.
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Zoe Tierney scored the Lancer goal late in the third quarter to tie things up, and it was her first goal of the season.
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SCORING:
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              1            2            3            4            FINAL
LWUÂ Â Â Â Â 0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
MOHÂ Â Â Â 0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3
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32:43 | MOH—Riley Mazzalupi (2)
44:06 | LWU—
Zoe Tierney (1)
44:50 | MOH—Paula Pena Martinez (2), assist Claudia Negrete Garcia
54:37 | MOH—Luca Ventos (1)
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
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The two sides were locked in a defensive battle early on, and Longwood held Miami (5-2, 1-0 MAC) to two shots through the first quarter with a strong defensive presence.
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The Lancer defense stayed strong through the second quarter, and the two sides went into the half scoreless.
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Early in the third quarter, Riley Mazzalupi gave the home side the lead, 1-0, but Longwood didn't go away.
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With less than a minute to play in the quarter, Tierney scored for her first goal of the season. She evened the score at one.
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However, Paula Pena Martinez answered with 10 seconds to go in the quarter, and the RedHawks scored once more as the Lancers had to chase the game in the fourth.
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Santia McLaughlin had a strong game in the cage and made seven saves to help keep the Lancers within striking distance.
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WHAT THEY SAID:
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"We started strong and held our own for the first half," said Longwood Head Coach
Miranda Rigg. "Then in the third, we got the goal to tie it up, but we lacked the game management we needed and let them score right away."
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"We need to be able to clean up our mistakes because, as we have seen, a good team like Miami will capitalize on them," Rigg added. "It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't our best. I'm looking forward to continuing to grow as we go forward in conference play."
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UP NEXT:
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Longwood takes on Brown on Saturday at noon in a neutral site match in Oxford, Ohio.
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#GoWood #HorsePower
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