Liberty University
(1-5)
Longwood
(6-3)
Liberty Drops Home Opener to Longwood, 4-3
9/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
The Liberty field hockey team dropped its home opener to Longwood, 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon at the Liberty Field Hockey Field.
Leonie Verstraete delivered the game-winner for the Lancers from right in front of the goal at 68:02 on a pass from Abbey Ripley. Longwood overcame a 2-0 deficit in the second half and scored four times in the final 23:19. The Lancers trailed 3-2 with 13:08 to play before scoring the game's final two goals.
With its fourth one-goal loss of the season, Liberty falls to 1-5, while Longwood improves to 6-3.
The Lady Flames notched the game's first goal in the 20th minute, as Alynn Richardson redirected a Bethany Barr strike from inside the circle into the top left corner for her second goal of the year. Liberty led, 1-0, at halftime.
Bethany Barr scored her third goal of the season in the 44th minute. After Lancers goalkeeper Lauren Bernard had vacated the net, the senior ripped a shot from the right side that hit off a Lancers defender and trickled in to give the Lady Flames a 2-0 edge.
Edel Nyland gave Longwood its first goal of the game just over three minutes later at 46:41. Ripley sent a pass inside the circle, and Nyland deposited the ball into the left side of the goal to cut the Liberty lead to 2-1.
In the 49th minute, Ripley tied the game, 2-2, with a tipped shot from in front of the net past Lady Flames goalkeeper Allison Schaefer.
Liberty regained the lead, 3-2, in the 57th minute. On a quick restart inside the 25, Cassidy Bremner found Kendra Jones on the right post, and Jones redirected it past Bernard for her second goal of the season.
Nyland scored her second goal of the game at 63:35 to tie the score at 3-3. The junior took a pass from Verstraete and scored into the right side of the goal cage. Verstraete then provided the winner with 1:58 to play.
The two teams both took 10 shots, with Liberty holding a slight 7-6 edge in shots on goal. Liberty drew four penalty corners while allowing zero penalty corners for Longwood.
Liberty's Schaefer made two saves on the day, while Longwood's Bernard made four saves to earn the victory.
"Longwood played a great game today. I thought they came out with a lot of energy and executed their game plan very well," stated head coach Jodi Murphy. "This result is not what we wanted today, but we learned a tough lesson about how we need to approach every opponent. There is no guarantee. We need to play every game with our full heart and leave everything on the field."
Liberty plays its first BIG EAST Conference home match against Quinnipiac on Friday at 4 p.m. The Lady Flames will then travel to William & Mary for a 1 p.m. match on Sunday.
Team Stats
RICHARDSON, Alynn (2)
Assisted By: BARR, Bethany
Redirected pass into top left corner
19:53
BARR, Bethany (3)
Goalkeeper had vacated net, shot past de
43:26
NYLAND, Edel (11)
Assisted By: RIPLEY, Abbey
Pass from right side, goal into left sid
46:41
RIPLEY, Abbey (2)
Assisted By: WAWRZYNIAK, Olivia
Tipped past goalkeeper from right in fro
48:32
JONES, Kendra (2)
Assisted By: BREMNER, Cassidy
Redirected right in front of goalkeeper
56:52
NYLAND, Edel (12)
Assisted By: VERSTRAETE, Leonie
Pass to left side, scored into right sid
63:35
VERSTRAETE, Leonie (8)
Assisted By: RIPLEY, Abbey
Pass from right sideline, scored from in
68:02
