Sunday’s Scoreboard
Virginia 3, Longwood 1
App State 1, LaSalle 0
Miami 1, Davidson 0
Stories Courtesy Of MAC Sports Information
Virginia 3, Longwood 1
Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Lancers knew coming into the game they had a tough challenge in front of them in the form of a top-five opponent. Although they held their own in the match, ultimately Virginia's high powered offense proved too much.
The Longwood field hockey team was defeated by No. 5 Virginia, 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field. The ACC power took a lead they would never relinquish on the strength of two first half goals before adding a third in the fourth quarter. Junior Charlotte Wilm was able to tally a late goal for the Lancers.
"There are positives from the game," said head coach Iain Byers. "Obviously Virginia is a very good, top-five ranked team in the country, so that is no mean feat—there are a lot of other teams that have done a lot worse. We knew this was going to be a game where a lot of pressure was on us, but we stuck to our game plan well for most of the time. We are happy with elements of our performance, our tenacity, and our ability to defend. I think we would have liked a little bit more possession in the midfield, but it was a good performance."
Virginia (8-2) remains with just two losses on the season, falling only to Big Ten power Maryland in overtime, and to the defending national champions, and current No. 1 ranked team in the country, North Carolina. Their high octane offense, led by junior striker Makalya Gallen, averages 2.30 goals per game, while their stout defense holds opponents to just 1.30 goals per game.
Virginia totaled 20 shots against the Longwood (4-4) defense, but goalkeeper Katie Wyman was able to record nine saves on 12 shots on goal. The nine-save performance was her second most this season, and her first time recording nine saves since Longwood's 4-0 victory over LIU on Aug. 31. Defensively, she was aided by a backline of Luna Lopez, Rio Weber, Clara Meschini.
Longwood's lone goal scorer Wilm led the team with three shots. In total, the Lancers tallied seven shots against the Cavaliers. Five different Lancers recorded a shot in the game against a strong Virginia defensive unit.
"I feel like our performance today was already an improvement from the days before," said Wilm. "I think it will come with time—we are taking steps in the right direction."
Virginia opened the scoring in the second quarter when Laura Janssen was able to dribble around multiple Longwood defenders before ripping a shot past Wyman to give the Cavaliers an early 1-0 lead. Anzel Viljoen doubled the Virginia lead when she redirected teammate Rachel Robinson's shot following a corner to make the score 2-0, where it would stay until halftime.
Gallen scored the third goal for Virginia when she took a perfect pass from Annie McDonugh and fired it home to make it 3-0. Wilm's goal for Longwood came on an assist from sophomore Kylie Ryan, who played her a pass in the arc before Wilm was able to squeeze a shot through a crowd of players into the side of the goal to get the Lancers on the board.
Longwood will look to get back in the win column on the road Tuesday, Oct. 1 when they face off with William & Mary. The opening push is set to be at 6 p.m.
App State 1, LaSalle 0
Box Score
BOONE, N.C. – Senior Michelle Taylor netted her first goal of the season in the third quarter to lift Appalachian State University field hockey to a 1-0 win over La Salle.
The Mountaineers (7-3, 0-2) earned their seventh victory of the season, already tying the team's win total from a season ago. App State's sixth shutout victory of 2019 also snapped a three-game losing streak.
"Today was really important for us to get some of our mojo back," head coach Meghan Dawson said. "We had a heartbreaker two Fridays ago against Ohio, and for us this a quality win over a good La Salle team. For us to get that win and grind through it, it gave us our confidence back."
After a strong initial push from the Explorers (4-5), Appalachian's defense stifled La Salle's attack for the remainder of the half. The Mountaineers allowed just two shots in the first half, outshooting the Explorers 10-2 through the first 30 minutes.
With the game tied seven minutes into the second half, sophomore Friederike Stegen slashed through the middle of the circle before laying off a pass to Taylor for the eventual game-winning score. Taylor's tally in the 38th minute made her the eighth Mountaineer to register a goal this season. Stegen's assist increased her total to five in 2019, which ranks first on the team.
Less than a minute later, senior goalkeeper Rachel Gaines recorded a save to maintain the App State lead. Appalachian's defense then shut down the Explorers, not allowing a shot in the final 22 minutes of action.
Ten Mountaineers fired shots in Sunday's victory, including four players not in the starting lineup. Junior Meghan Smart led App State with five shots and four shots on goal. Juniors Veerle Van Heertum and Chloe Bell recorded two shots apiece.
Gaines made three saves to secure her sixth shutout in 2019, boosting her career total to 12 clean sheets.
App State begins another road swing on Friday with a Mid-American Conference matchup at Central Michigan (2-8, 0-2 MAC). Friday's contest is set to begin at 3 p.m.
Miami 1, Davidson 0
Box Score
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Miami University field hockey team (6-4, 2-0 MAC) shutout Davidson by a 1-0 margin on Sunday to wrap up the two-game trip to North Carolina.
Miami earned the first penalty corner of the game during the second minute of play but Noor Breedijk's shot was saved and the two teams remained scoreless after one quarter.
The RedHawks opened the second quarter with a penalty corner and a pair of shots but Davidson goalkeeper Sarah Zeszotarski kept the game scoreless.
Davidson earned its first penalty corner and took its first shot during the 27th minute of play but Rosie Kalis came up with a save.
During the 29th minute, Leonor Berlie put Miami on the board first with her fourth goal of the season. Berlie scored on a penalty corner from Neely Lochmoeller and Marie Görner to give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Miami earned three penalty corners during the third quarter and two more during the fourth quarter but could not capitalize and scoring was capped at 1-0.
Davidson took two shots during the fourth quarter but both sailed wide.
Breedijk led all players with four shots, all on goal. Kalis earned her first solo shutout of the season with one save. Miami had the 11-4 shot advantage, 7-1 lead in shots on goal and earned nine penalty corners compared to Davidson's two.
The RedHawks play Towson on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET in Houston, Texas, marking the first NCAA field hockey game to be played in Texas. Miami returns home to host No. 21 Wake Forest on Sunday at noon for the annual pride game.
