September 30, 2007

FARMVILLE, Va.-- Longwood University field hockey handed the visiting Georgetown Hoyas a 3-1 loss Sunday afternoon at the Athletics Complex.  The Lancers (3-9) were led by junior Carla Binnewies/Hamburg, Germany (Carl von Ossietzkly Gymnasium) two goal performance, dropping the Hoyas to 2-8 on the year.  Longwood will return to action on Wednesday, October 3, when they travel to VCU for a 6 p.m. match-up.  
 

After both teams went back and forth in the opening ten minutes, Longwood broke onto the scoreboard on its first penalty corner opportunity of the game.  After senior Mary Freeman/Fredericksburg (Stafford) inserted the ball to senior Cristin Newbold/Norfolk (Maury) Binnewies picked up the ball and carried it in a few steps before lifting it over the diving Hoya keeper for the 1-0 lead.  The Lancers continued to keep the pressure on, looking to pad their lead and caught Georgetown in a quick transition two minutes later.  Sophomore Julia Hernandez/Norfolk (Maury) found Newbold making a run down the middle of the field, and fed her a through ball that was just out of the reach of Newbold and was tracked down by keeper Deirdre Crovo.
 

With 19:16 left in the half Georgetown, drew a penalty stroke as a loose ball in the circle deflected off a Longwood defender sending Lauren Sheets to the stripe.  Sheets fired a shot wide left keeping the game at 1-0 in Longwood’s favor.  The Lancers continued to produce opportunities in the offensive end mid-way through the half, and came within a couple of inches of taking a two goal lead into the break, after sophomore Melissa Strickland/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) took a centering pass from senior Katie Claxton/Virginia Beach (Frank W. Cox) with the goalie out and fired a shot that was knocked out by Sheets to keep the game at 1-0 at halftime.
 

Longwood wasted no time in the second half, as Strickland dove to hit a rebound in from a Binnewies’ shot that hit off the post for  the 2-0 lead.  Senior keeper Avanell Schmitz/Newport News (Denbigh) was a wall in net,  stopping three consecutive penalty corner shots to keep the Hoyas off the board.  With less than three minutes remaining in the contest Longwood put together a perfect penalty corner as Binnewies tallied her second goal of the game with assists from Freeman and Hernandez for the 3-0 lead.  Georgetown broke up the shutout 0:44 later as Maggie Farrand finished on a Hoya penalty corner to put the game at 3-1, which stood as the final.
 

Schmitz finished the contest with 11 saves while Georgetown’s Crovo tallied nine.  Longwood outshot Georgetown 18-17 while the Hoyas held a 13-7 margin in penalty corners.