This week, the LU field hockey team lost two games against high-caliber opponents from the Atlantic 10 and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). On Thursday, the Lancers (3-7, 2-0 NorPac) fell 3-0 to the Spiders of Richmond at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. The first half was relatively competitive with the two teams staying scoreless at the intermission.
Although the University of Richmond outshot LU 4-2 in the first, head coach Iain Byers told LongwoodLancers.com afterward, “The first half was a good performance by us. Actually, it was a very competitive game for both teams. We're happy with how our team worked and stuck to the game plan.”
In the second, however, the tide turned when Amy Cooke assisted Samantha Ostoich on the Spiders’ first goal, as Ostoich tipped in Cooke’s corner from the right side to open the scoring just shy of 10 minutes in.
In a two-minute stretch 20 minutes later, Richmond destroyed hopes of a Longwood comeback with a quick pair of tallies. Emma Johansson found herself with her own rebound in the circle and fired it past Longwood goalie Kaye Goulding to double her team’s lead, and Rebecca Barry scored off an Allison Haas corner to wrap it up.
“When we went one goal down, we didn't generate enough circle penetration and shooting opportunities to stay competitive,” Byers said. “When we started chasing the game, things happened towards the end that led to us conceding two more because we were throwing more people forward.”
Byers added, “The game itself was a great game, while the score line somewhat flatters Richmond, but they did well to execute their chances, which was something that we didn't …”
At No. 13 Duke, the Lancers lost 3-1. Jessica Buttinger scored an unassisted goal at 20:59 and it remained 1-0 in favor of the Blue Devils at halftime.
Fifteen minutes into the first half, Jessica Diaz scored her fourth goal of the season when she went one-on-one with Lauren Blazing to tie it up. Brenna Rescigno scored four and a half minutes after that off a penalty corner via Abby Beltrani and Emmie Le Marchand to regain the lead for Duke. Le Marchand scored the Blue Devils’ third with 9:19 to play, as Longwood was dealt their seventh loss.
“We're content with a lot of what we did today,” Byers said. “We defended well, our press worked well and we moved the ball around effectively. We had more circle time and more penetration than we've had in the last couple of years against Duke, so there's definitely progress being made.
“We had a couple of tough goals, but to score and come back from one goal down to tie it up before losing it in the last 10 minutes still shows progress as a team,” Byers continued. “We're happy and if we play like that against VCU, it will definitely be a good game for us.”
This week, the Lancers, ranked No. 54 out of 80 teams in the national RPI, have a couple of games. Oct. 2, they travel to the capital of the Commonwealth to play VCU at 6 p.m. On Sunday, the team wraps up their Oktoberfest weekend with a 2 p.m. tilt against NorPac opponent Davidson.
