Verstraete Nets Hat Trick In Senior Night Victory
Friday’s Scoreboard
Kent State 4, Ball State 0
Longwood 4, Ohio 3
Miami 4, St. Louis 1
Appalachian State 5, Central Michigan 1
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Kent State 4, Ball State 0
Box Score
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State University field hockey team (5-9, 3-1 MAC) picked up its third Mid-American Conference win, shutting out Ball State (2-11, 2-2 MAC), 4-0 at Murphy-Mellis Field Friday afternoon. Four Flashes tallied goals on the day, and freshman Helena Cambra Soler recorded two assists.
"I'm pleased with the team effort," head coach Kathleen Wiler said, "We are looking forward to getting back out there Sunday against Ohio State."
The offensive action came in the first half as the Flashes scored all four goals over the last 12 minutes of the period. Sophomore Hailie Balachick provided the first offensive spark, collecting the ball in front of the net from Cambra Soler and firing her fourth goal of the season in the 28th minute. Four minutes later, senior Jessica Apelt added a goal to go ahead 2-0, knocking the ball past the goalkeeper into the left corner of the cage.
In the 32nd minute, senior Helen Harper added to the action and notched her first goal of the season, recovering the ball off the pads of the goalkeeper from junior Laila Richter's shot. As time ran off the clock to end the first half, sophomore Emma Bressler tallied the final goal of the game on a direct corner. The second half became a defensive battle as the scored remained 4-0 through regulation.
The Flashes dominated the Cardinals offensively, out-shooting the Cardinals 18-6 and taking eight penalty corners on the day. Junior goalkeeper Mary Crumlish was instrumental to the Kent State defense, recording her second shutout of the season and totaling five saves.
Kent State will be back in action at Murphy-Mellis Field on Sunday, Oct. 14, facing No. 22 Ohio State at 12:00 p.m.
Longwood 4, Ohio 3
Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. -- One of four seniors honored before the game, Longwood senior Leonie Verstraete stole the spotlight with three goals and an assist in Longwood field hockey's 4-3 win over Ohio Friday afternoon at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.
Verstraete's hat trick is the first for the Lancers since her former teammate Abbey Rippley accomplished the feat Sept. 3, 2017 in a 5-1 win against Dartmouth, as Verstraete also added an assist on Sophia DeFeo's fourth goal of the season to hand Longwood head coach Iain Byers his 100th career victory with a career-high seven-point performance.
"Senior day is a tough day because the emotions are there and they really want to win, but I thought we handled all of that well," Byers said.
Byers has his field hockey program on the rise after Longwood secured at least its third straight season with a .500 record, after winning at least nine games in the last two seasons. Byers has also led Longwood to its first top 25 ranking in the RPI earlier this season while leading two of the MAC's top three leading scorers in Verstraete and Olivia Wawrzyniak.
"We have a close group with our team and coaches, so for us to do that for Iain [Byers] is special because he's done so much for us," DeFeo said. "He'd cut off an arm for us, so the fact that it's senior day, we worked well as a team, we got the win and we were able to secure Iain's 100th win was icing on the cake."
A product of Ultrecht, The Netherlands, Verstraete moves within one goal of former teammate Edel Nyland on Longwood's all-time goals list with 37 in her career, moving past Julie Dayton in Friday's game into seventh-place all-time and second-place in the Division I era. It marked the first career hat trick and seven-point game for the senior sniper, surpassing her previous best of five points with a two-goal effort with an assist a season ago against Central Michigan.
"Today was bittersweet because we're happy we got the win and it's a great feeling to score a hat trick, but it's also the last time that we'll play on our home turf," Verstraete said. "I'm sad that it's our last game here, but excited for the steps that we're continuing to take to get better."
The win hands Longwood (8-4, 3-2 MAC) the second-most wins in the Mid-American Conference, behind only Miami's perfect 4-0 mark in conference play. Ohio (4-8, 2-2 MAC) drops it fourth straight overall.
After Ohio tied the game at 2-all at the 10:20 mark in the second half on a redirection by Jillian Shive, Verstraete put the Lancers on her shoulders with back-to-back strikes coming in a span of 5:54 to hand her team a two-goal lead.
"It was a good goal by them but we were able to bounce back from it," Byers said. "Sometimes it's tough to take a shot like that, but we've shown time-and-time again that we're capable of doing it. We've done it in previous games, showing good determination and fight."
Katie Wyman picked up her eighth win of the season, allowing three goals on eight shots faced.
Wyman was aided by the play of her defensive unit – Rio Weber, Clara Meschini, Kourtney Landis, Kolbey Donahue and Mia Leeman – as that group combined to block a pair of shots.
Wyman bettered the performance of Ohio goalkeeper Alex Pennington, who made seven saves on 18 Longwood shots against.
Prior to the game, Longwood honored its quartet of seniors – DeFeo, Verstraete, Kourtney Landis and Elle Richardson – who have aided the Lancers to back-to-back MAC semifinal appearances, a record of at least .500 in the last three seasons and its first win over a top-25 opponent earlier this season against No. 20 Liberty.
"We've got a good group of seniors," Byers said. "We're going to miss them when they're gone and we're going to enjoy them while they're around still."
"This group means everything to me," Verstraete said. "We've been here for four years but it feels like two days because of the connection that we have with each other. It's something that will stay with us for a lifetime. We're literally best friends and I consider them my family."
Longwood will play its last three games on the road before the MAC Championship. That stretch begins Sunday, Oct. 14 against Villanova with first touch set for 12 p.m.
"Our next step on the road is Villanova, they're a good team so it'll be a tough game," Byers said. "One day rest and we're back at it. All of these games are a good test before the tournament starts."
Miami 4, St. Louis 1
Box Score
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Miami University field hockey team beat Saint Louis by a 4-1 margin on Friday. The RedHawks improve to 10-5 overall this season while the Billikens drop to 3-9.
Miami started the game with pressure in its offensive 25, earning two corners in the first four minutes of play.
Leonor Berlie put the 'Hawks on the scoreboard first with her fourth goal of the season in the eighth minute of the game. The RedHawks earned a penalty corner but the resulting shot was blocked. Saint Louis could not clear the zone and Miami was awarded another corner, on which Berlie would bury one from Mariona Heras.
Just three minutes later, the RedHawks would earn another pair of penalty corners but the resulting shots were blocked by the Billikens' defensive front.
Saint Louis tied the game at one during the 16th minute of play on a rebound shot after Maddie Passarella made the initial save.
In the 19th minute of play, Neely Lochmoeller tipped in her first goal of the season to put Miami up 2-1. Lochmoeller capitalized on an indirect shot from Avery Sturm on a penalty corner chance.
With just over 10 minutes left to play in the first half, Saint Louis called a timeout.
Allie Grace Joyner tipped in a pass across the goal from Estel Roig to score her sixth goal of the season immediately following the timeout.
Miami took the 3-1 lead into the locker room after 35 minutes. The RedHawks also led in shots (13-3), penalty corners (8-0) and shots on goal (4-2).
The RedHawks earned two more penalty corners to begin the second half but the shots were again blocked by the Billikens, who continued to block shots on multiple RedHawks chances.
With five minutes to play, Paula Portugal scored her 16th goal of the season with a hard shot to beat the Saint Louis goalkeeper. Berlie picked up the assist.
The Miami defense did not allow a shot during the second half nor a penalty corner the entire game.
Portugal led both teams with seven shots. Berlie tallied three points, which ties a season high for her. The RedHawks offense earned 16 penalty corners and took 21 shots.
Miami concludes regular season road games with a tilt at No. 10 Louisville on Sunday at noon.
Appalachian State 5, Central Michigan 1
Box Score
BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State University field hockey (5-10, 1-3 MAC) used four second-half goals to blow past Central Michigan 5-1 at home on Senior Night.
On a beautiful, brisk evening at Adcock Field, the Mountaineers honored seniors Keighly Adams and Sarah Heiss before Friday's resounding victory. Both seniors earned a spot in the starting lineup in what was their final home game in a Mountaineers' uniform.
"They were here from the start of me taking over, and they've given all of their heart to the program," head coach Meghan Dawson said. "They've been amazing, and through the good times and the bad times, they've always kept fighting. I know I'm better because of them."
Appalachian struck first when sophomore Annette Jarosz tallied her first goal of the season. Jarosz drove from outside of the circle and found the back of the net from the left side of the circle.
Jarosz's goal served as the only score in the first half, and the Mountaineers took a 1-0 advantage into the break. The Black and Gold outshot the Chippewas 10-3 in the opening half.
The Mountaineers doubled their advantage in the 39th minute when sophomore Veerle Van Heertumsmacked home a goal off a penalty corner. Freshman Friederike Stegen and sophomore Chloe Bellnotched the assists on Van Heertum's seventh goal of the season.
Junior Ali Williams stretched the Mountaineers' lead to 3-0 ten minutes later, scoring her fifth goal of 2018 off a rebound of her original shot.
The Chippewas cut into Appalachian's lead in the 60th minute when Cara Satre scored off a wild scramble inside the circle. After Satre's goal, the Mountaineers responded with the game's final two scores. Van Heertum netted another goal off a penalty corner, again with Stegen and Bell recording the assists. Stegen then closed the Mountaineers' scoring tally with a goal in the 69th minute.
"We played with our emotions in the most positive way," Dawson said. "We didn't get overwhelmed with it being Senior Night. We just really wanted to honor those two seniors for all the work that they've put in. We are finally clicking, and tonight it came together."
Appalachian fired 23 total shots, 19 of which landed on goal. Van Heertum finished Friday's matchup with two shots on goal and a pair of scores. Stegen ended Appalachian's 5-1 victory with four shots, three shots on goal, two assists and a goal.
Redshirt-Freshman Madison Nuckols recorded her first victory in the goal cage. Nuckols tallied six saves while facing nine total shots from the Chippewas.
The Black and Gold take an eight-day break before traveling to Miami for a noon matchup on Oct. 20.
