Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University field hockey team defeated Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) opponent Appalachian State University (3-14, 0-7 NorPac), 8-1, in the squad's regular season finale and Senior Day on Sunday afternoon in Farmville. The Lancers (7-12, 6-2 NorPac) were led by freshman
Kim Ruiter|Huizen, The Netherlands (Luzac College), who notched six points in the outing. Longwood will host the NorPac Tournament on November 1-3. The regular-season standings and tournament seeds will be announced by the league office later today.
“This was a great performance,” said head coach
Iain Byers. “We needed to have a performance like that to ensure we can play at that level. We made some very decisive moves in the first half. We played well, moved the ball well and were affective around the cage. We could have scored even more. This was a good game to have leading up to the NorPac Tournament and we are really looking forward to hosting it this coming week.
Ruiter tallied season highs with a pair of goals and assists to lead the Lancers to victory. Junior
Stacey de Grandhomme|Cape Town, South Africa (Table View) and sophomore
Jessica Diaz|Chesapeake (Western Branch) added to the offensive effort with two goals apiece, while freshmen
Nicole Deckard|Selinsgrove, Pa. (Selinsgrove Area) and
Hollie MacDonald|Yorktown (Tabb) notched one goal each. Senior
Christina Verhulst|Yorktown (Grafton) tied a season high with two assists and senior
Kaity Byrum|Suffolk (Lakeland) registered one assist, as well.
The Lancers scored two goals in the opening minutes of play to jump out to an early lead. Less than two and a half minutes into the game, Verhulst took control of the ball and dished a pass to Ruiter, who had an open shot on goal to put Longwood on the board. Four minutes later, Ruiter broke free from the defense and made a move to fake out the Mountaineers' keeper before dishing a pass to
Jessica Diaz for the tip in from the right corner of the cage, putting the Lancers up, 2-0.
With just over 15 minutes remaining in the first half,
Jessica Diaz scored unassisted when she collected a rebound off the pads of the opposing keeper and sent a follow-up shot to the back of the cage. Longwood added one more goal before the first half expired, as Verhulst sent a cross from the right side of the cage to an open Ruiter, who tapped in her second goal of the day to send the Lancers into halftime with a 4-0 advantage.
Coming out of halftime, the Lancers took control of the momentum once again. de Grandhomme put a hard shot on cage that bounced off the keeper's pads and back to her for a second shot, which she sent skidding past the defense less than two minutes into the half. MacDonald notched the team's six goal of the game on a set corner play. After several passes around the top of the circle, Byrum dished a pass to MacDonald for the shot and goal.
de Grandhomme tallied her second goal of the day on a diving shot from the left side of the cage after a pass from Ruiter, giving the Lancers a 7-0 lead before the Mountaineers scored their lone goal of the day. With just over 15 minutes remaining in the game, Caroline Phillips converted on a direct corner opportunity by Appalachian State.
Deckard notched the final goal of the game when she collected her own rebound with just over 13 minutes to play, sealing the 8-1 victory for the Lancers.
Longwood outshot Appalachian State, 27-11, in the victory. Sunday's match marked the 28th meeting between the Lancers and the Mountaineers in the sport of field hockey. LU now leads the all-time series, 23-5. Seniors
Kaity Byrum,
Brittany Diaz,
Amy Lewis and
Christina Verhulst were honored in a special pregame ceremony.
