Seniors shine on Retirement Day as a field hockey cruises past a ball space

FARMVILLE, Va. – Before Friday’s home final against Ball State, Longwood’s field hockey celebrated in a five-person senior class. Thanks to the same seniors, the celebration continued well after the last whistle.

The first half goals of the seniors sparkled Sophia Loscher and Rio Weber and it was intensified by three senior aids Kolbey Donahue, Jamie Wright and Weber, Longwood (9-5, 4-2 MAC) cruised past MAC enemy Ball State (4-11, 2-4 MAC) at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

Postgraduate student Cammy Toddy, who celebrated his own senior day last season before returning to Longwood for a fifth year in 2021, also scored the game’s first goal, while a second-year student Ana Paula Lazaro in the second half won two goals. Three-time All-MAC first-team defender Luna Lopez also shared two assists in penalty corners as Lancers remained at the top of the MAC leaderboard in their third game with at least five goals this season.

“Our goal today was to stay calm and keep our heads throughout the game, similar to the one against Liberty under pressure,” said Donahue, who helped anchor the defense, which didn’t score before the 49th minute. assisted by a senior goalkeeper Madison Nuckols to earn the ninth win of the season.

“We knew we would have more time today, but we didn’t want to take it. We wanted to play at the level we wanted and set the tone. We came out hard. We’ve completed our corners and we’ve earned them and done well.

Longwood created 12 penalty corners and made four of them, of which Loscher, Weber and Lazaro earned goals in a set-play game. Lancers has 41 goals as a MAC leader this season, surpassing 40 goals only for the second time since he joined the conference in 2014, and they are nine shy of their 50 MAC-era records in 2016.

The four-goal win also ended the dominant stretch at home this fall for the Lancers, who went 6-1 with Elizabeth Burger at Jackson Field and surpassed those seven opponents 25-4. Their lonely loss was a 3-1 loss to No. 12 for Liberty, who took part in that October 17 competition as the country’s best scoring team.

Now that the regular season final match against MAC enemy Ohio is approaching on October 30, the Lancers will continue to hunt for the best seed of the MAC Championship. Currently third behind Kent State and Miami — both in the league — a 4-1 victory over Ohio would secure Longwood’s place on the four-team tournament field.

“After the energy and mentality we get after Liberty and its game, we have to keep doing it,” Donahue said. “We have to keep playing Longwood field hockey. We’re brutal, aggressive and we want to keep doing it. We get them to play us and beat us.”

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