Sept. 5, 2009

Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va. - There isn't a much more exciting way to kick off a season than an overtime victory and the Lafayette field hockey squad did just that, earning a hard-fought, 3-2 win over Longwood that went to a strokeoff.

Rookie Deanna DiCroce and senior Lindsay Majno scored the Leopards' two regulation goals and after two scoreless overtime periods, Lafayette defeated the Lancers in a strokeoff (4-3). The Leopards (1-0) have now won their second consecutive season opener.

Lafayette goalie Kelsey Andersen made three saves and gave up only two first-half goals. Senior Bridget Hilbig added an assist on DiCroce's goal and junior Meghan Cicchi led both squads with four shots.

It took Longwood (1-2) just over two minutes to score the game's first goal with a score at the 2:14 mark off an assist from Taylor Bender.

Neither team had another real scoring threat until Majno connected on a shot at 18:41 that went past Lancers goalie Amy Lewis to knot the game at one.

Five minutes later Longwood went back up after a goal by Amanda Babineau. DiCroce responded with less than three minutes to play in the half when Hilbig's pass found her to once again make it a tie game (2-2) as the opening period expired.

After combining for 10 shots in the first half, the two teams had just five shots between them in the second half, none of which found the back of the cage, forcing overtime.

With 1:33 left in the first extra session, a Cicchi shot was blocked and the Leopards had three more shots in the second overtime period but again failed to convert those looks into goals, forcing a strokeoff. DiCroce, Emily Valeo, Alison Schoch and Amanda Saber all came through in the strokeoff while two Longwood misses clinched the Lafayette victory.

The Leopards have a quick turnaround as they face Radford tomorrow at 1 p.m.