FARMVILLE, Va. – No light was too bright for Longwood field hockey in The G.A.M.E. 9.0 Friday night.

Facing the preseason No. 3 team in the Patriot League, Katie Wyman and the Longwood (1-0) defense stonewalled the Bucknell (0-1) attack down the stretch for a 2-1 season-opening win in front of 2,073 Lancer faithful – the most to ever attend a Longwood home sporting event.

"We talked a lot about the crowd and the effect it will have and how you can use the energy for good while trying to avoid the nervousness," said 11th-year head coach Iain Byers. "It was the first time we've ever played in a stadium with the crowd like that and it was great."

Wyman, who was an All-MAC performer in 2017, led a Lancer defensive performance that saw only one set-piece goal from the Bison attack and eight saves on the night.

"I think our defensive corner unit is very strong this year," said team captain and goalkeeper Wyman. "We have great posts who are willing to put their bodies on the line. All the flies, they have great speed, and the trailers are picking up right after them if they miss it. I didn't really do much tonight, it was all my teammates. They did awesome. I was just there when they needed me."

Byers added, "Katie (Wyman) did a great job at the back anchoring. She came up with the saves she needed and did a great job. The defensive intensity was something we've worked on all spring and in the preseason. I thought it drifted at times, but we'll manage that over the season. We were feisty, we were pressing every ball and we were chasing things down so it was a good strong start."

Meanwhile on the other end, junior forward Olivia Wawrzyniak collected her fourth game-winning goal as a Lancer in the 48th minute off a short corner – the third and final tally of the night, all three coming on corners.

Wawrzyniak also displayed her smooth passing skills as she collected an assist on Leonie Verstraete's first-half goal for a team-leading three-point night.

"It felt pretty good, great way to open the season and I couldn't have done it without my teammates," said Wawrzyniak of her game-winner.

Wawrzyniak, Verstraete and sophomore midfielder Cammy Toddy accounted for nine of the Lancers' 11 shots on the night, but it was the timing and offensive set plays that made the difference Friday night.

Sophomore midfielder Charlotte Wilm also collected an assist in the win as she delivered a perfect pass on Wawrzyniak's second-half corner strike that beat Bucknell goalkeeper Olivia Harris to the bottom right corner of the backboard.

​​​​​​​Bucknell controlled much of the first half play but could only muster six shots and one goal on a corner in the opening frame.

That's where Longwood's offensive corner unit came in.

Picking up six second-half corner attempts, the Lancer attack countered the Bison pressure down the stretch to close out the 2-1 victory despite Bucknell's press throughout.

"I think (all of the corners) just threw them off balance," Wawrzyniak said. "I don't think they expected us to be in their circle as much as we were. With us keeping all the shots on goal, it kind of wore down on their confidence and built ours up."

"(The corners) allowed us to get the tempo under control," Byers said. "In the first half we switched what our concepts and the team reacted well to it. It gave us a little bit of a foothold getting corner after corner after corner."

Friday's win was the first against Bucknell in the series history and the third-straight season-opening win for the Lancers after victories in 2017 and 2016 on their home turf.

"It was a 50-50 game throughout and both their coach and I knew it was going to be a tight game no matter what," Byers said. "It got a little feisty for both teams, but you've got to play and win those games and it's a good start."

Despite being outshot 14-11, Longwood used seven corners to Bucknell's six and seven huge saves from Wyman as Briana Greene also picked up a defensive save in the first half.

Longwood returns to Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field Thursday, Aug. 30 when UMass Lowell from the America East comes to town. First touch is slated for 4 p.m.

#GoWood
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