By DERRICK BENNINGTON
LongwoodLancers.com

FARMVILLE, Va. – Sunday when Longwood field hockey hosts Ball State on Senior Day, eight members of the red-hot squad will play their final contest on the blue turf of Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

The eight members of the team that will be recognized Sunday – Lil-Sophie Achterwinter, Kate Colley, Maddie Kendrick, Brenna Kinzel, Lorissa Morton, Edel Nyland, Abbey Ripley and Sarah Vrhovac – have defined what the term "student-athlete" means, embodying that hard-work mentality on the turf and in the classroom that has come to embody under 10th-year head coach Iain Byers.

Their collective success in all facets of student-athletedom has generated a team-record GPA last season, the first Lancer to apply for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, and, this season, the program's first 10-win season since joining the Mid-American Conference four years ago when that eight-player class was a group of deer-eyed freshmen.

In their time in the Lancer blue and white, the 2017-18 field hockey seniors have come together for 32 wins – going from six wins as freshmen, to seven as sophomores, nine as juniors and now 10 as seniors with three games left on the regular season slate – while becoming the first class to play their entire careers inside the MAC in program history.

Consequently, Longwood has improved their standing in the MAC each year this group has progressed, rising from a fifth-place finish in 2014, to fourth in 2015 and third in 2016. This year, with the seniors now holding the reins, Longwood is 10-3 overall and 3-1 in MAC play with a legitimate shot at a top-two finish in the regular-season standings, which would the highest regular season finish in program history.

That this group has continued to help the program raise its bar is no surprise to 10th-year head coach Iain Byers.

"The impact that they've had – you can see it from a skill point of view and how we play a better brand of hockey, but we look at it more from a character and cultural point of view," Byers said. "The culture of the team now, in comparison to four years ago, is very different and much improved. That's done through hard work and tough choices and being able to put the long-term goal of your success first, rather than the short-term difficulty of having a conversation or putting in some work and improving later. We always knew it was a talented class. Ever since day one, they've gotten a good amount of playing time and experience."

Byers added, "There are a lot of players that do a lot of the team-oriented stuff that the team as a whole needs to be successful – the Kate's [Colley] and Sarah's [Vrhovac] of this world. They do that out of sacrifice for the team because they realize how important it is for the team to be successful. It's not easy putting the team above your individual success, and we're proud of them every day because they don't just do it in games, they do it in practice. It's something that shows a huge amount of character and is something that no team can be successful without."

Not only is the group collecting wins, they've reeled in an astounding 17 All-MAC honors, including all-conference, all-academic, scholar-athlete and player of the week awards. Among those, three-time All-MAC forward Nyland broke Longwood's single-season goals record last season, and Achterwinter is making a run for her third straight All-MAC selection.

"Our whole class has always been hard-working since freshman year," said Achterwinter, a team captain and four-year starting defender who has amassed 11 goals and 10 assists in a do-it-all role during that span. "Coach Byers has had high expectations from us since the start, and no one wanted to let him down. We were never handed anything and knew that we would have to fight to get to our goals."

Fellow senior Colley added, "I think a lot of that growth has come from our class and us realizing we can be just as good as any other team out here. It's surreal thinking that we have a very high chance of bringing home the MAC championship this year. It just shows how much work we've all put into this program, and it makes us happy being able to leave that kind of legacy at Longwood."

The Lancers will get their final chance to put the fruits of that hard work on display this Sunday when they host the Cardinals at noon in their final home game at Dr. Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

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