Miami and Longwood Pick Up Preliminary Conference Victories
Saturday’s Scoreboard
Longwood 3, Central Michigan 0
Miami 4, Ball State 0
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Longwood 3, Central Michigan 0
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Four days following its first-ever win against a top 25 opponent in an upset over No. 20 Liberty, Longwood field hockey scored three goals in the opening half and cruised to a 3-0 win over Central Michigan Saturday afternoon at the CMU Field Hockey Complex.
The red-hot Lancers continued its historic start to the 2018 season with their fourth straight win, equaling its 5-1 start to the season from a season ago – the best-ever in the Division I era for the Lancers.
"We had a solid first-half performance, and then some of our connectivity drifted off a bit in the second half," said Longwood head coach Iain Byers. "We still secured the game and didn't give up many opportunities. We still hav a few things to work on, but there always are."
The win moves Longwood head coach Iain Byers within three wins of 100 of his Longwood career.
"We came out with a lot of energy because we knew it would be a tough game with it being our first conference game," said Cammy Toddy "We were able to score a couple of early goals and that progressed us through the rest of the game."
Leonie Verstraete gave Longwood the early lead, less than four minutes into the game with her fourth strike of the season. With her goal, Verstraete joins her former teammate Jennifer Burris in Longwood's all-time top 10 in career goals scored with 32 career markers.
Olivia Wawrzniak added her third marker of the season in the 19th minute, as she matched Verstraete with a game-high six shots. Less than four minutes after Wawrzniak doubled Longwood's advantage, Karly Harwood scored her first career goal to hand the Lancers all the offense it needed to open MAC play with a win.
"We showed up and played our game today," Wawrzniak said. "This is a great start to our conference season and it will just propel us as we move forward."
Katie Wyman recorded her second shutout of the season, as the Longwood backline of Rio Weber, Mia Leeman and Clara Meschini limited the Chipewas to four shots.The shutout for Wyman was her second of the season, spurring a Longwood defense that's leading the MAC with just five goals allowed in six games.
Abigail Ebersole made five saves on 19 shots faced to lead Central Michigan (1-7).
Longwood will look to stay hot while facing a quick turnaround to face Rutgers in a neutral site meeting Sunday, Sept. 16. First touch is set for 11 a.m.
Miami 4, Ball State 0
Box Score
MUNCIE, IND. – The Miami University field hockey team shut out Ball State by a 4-0 margin in its first Mid-American conference game of the 2018 season on Saturday. The RedHawks improve to 4-4 on the season and the Cardinals drop to 0-7.
The RedHawks earned the first penalty corner of the game in the 12th minute of play but the resulting two shots from Mariona Heras were turned aside by the Ball State goalkeeper.
The Cardinals could not cleanly clear the zone so the RedHawks got another penalty corner chance. Leonor Berlie put in her second goal of the season with Noor Breedijk and Kirsten McNeil earning the assists.
Miami kept the offensive pressure on with a couple more shots and earned another penalty corner. Paula Portugal put away her sixth of the season to increase Miami's lead to 2-0 during the 15th minute of play. Peterson and McNeil once again picked up assists.
Just two minutes later, Allie Grace Joyner capitalized on a penalty corner opportunity with her second goal of the season. Heras and McNeil earned assists as Miami increased its lead to 3-0.
The RedHawks took the 3-0 lead into the half, also leading in shots 15-1, shots on goal 12-0 and penalty corners 10-0.
Ball State started the second half with an offensive push, earning three penalty corners in the first six minutes of play. Maddie Passarella turned aside all three shots on goal.
The score remained 3-0 until Portugal scored her second of the game and seventh of the season during the 56th minute of play. Avery Sturm set Portugal up to score.
Miami's offense generated 22 shots, 16 of those coming on goal. The RedHawks also earned 16 penalty corners while limiting Ball State to just five. Portugal and Heras led both teams with four shots apiece. Portugal led the team with two goals while McNeil recorded three assists. Passarella stopped all three shots she faced.
The RedHawks travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on No. 22 Ohio State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
