The Longwood field hockey team held off a late comeback from Davidson in Farmville to win 4-3 on Sept. 11. The victory improved the Lancers record to 4-3 and snaps a two-game losing streak.
"Every year we have a battle with Davidson," said Longwood field hockey head coach Iain Byers on the official Longwood athletics website. "We're both very competitive teams, and we play similar styles. We finished a bit better than we have in our previous games, so that's a step in the right direction."
Sophomore forward Leonie Verstraete opened the scoring in the 10th minute, before the Wildcats equalized through junior forward Paige Albert in the 27th minute. But one minute before halftime, senior defender Jordan Chapman converted off a penalty corner to give the home side a 2-1 lead at the break.
Longwood came out of the break firing as Verstraete notched her second goal in the 58th minute and junior forward Edel Nyland made it 4-1 for the Lancers just three minutes later. Nyland’s goal keeps her in second place on the NCAA scoring charts.
Davidson stormed back, as senior midfielder Becca Jones pegged one back in 65th minute before senior forward Anne Federico made it a one goal game with two minutes left. However, the Lancers were able to hang on for the win and move back above .500.
"This was a big step for us, coming back from a disappointing loss," said Chapman on the official Longwood athletics website. "We let ourselves down Friday, and we just wanted to prove to ourselves that we can play at a higher level. We really just wanted to play simple, make the easy passes and connections."
Statistically, the game was nearly deadlocked with both teams putting up 16 shots, with Davidson edging shots on target 10-9. Though in the end, the Lancers had just enough to pull out the win and Byers was happy with the result.
"We were better," said Byers on the official Longwood athletics website. "We probably still had a few circle penetrations that we could have capitalized on better, but we asked them to improve and they improved. If we keep working on it, we'll keep getting better. The effort's there; it's just the application that needs to come now."
They will hope to bring that application in their next game, when they go on the road to face Appalachian State. The Mountaineers will host Longwood on Sept. 17.
