Wingate, N.C. - After a dramatic 3-2 win over Newberry on Thursday, the Lander Field Hockey team would score their second consecutive conference victory for the first time in program history as they would take down the Wingate Bulldogs 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. The win moved the Bearcats to 6-6 on the season and 4-6 in SAC play, still in control of their own destiny for a SAC Tournament berth with three games still to play.
The Bulldogs would come out on the front foot in the first quarter as they held a 3-0 shot advantage but Kelsey Gibbons made two saves and the Bearcat defense killed off a Wingate man-advantage to keep the score tied at zero after 15 minutes of action.
The second quarter was a totally different story as Lander would get five shots off in the period with most of those coming off of four consecutive penalty corners. On the last corner of that sequence,
Frederique Van Der Houwen was able to slot home her fifth goal of the season to open the scoring.
Lauren Punt would almost find a second goal minutes later but would be denied by the Wingate keeper. After forcing Gibbons to make two saves in the first quarter, Wingate was held to zero shots on target in the second quarter and the Bearcats would head into the break with the 1-0 lead.
The Bearcats would once again have a 5-2 shot advantage in the third quarter and forced two saves in succession as time ticked down in the quarter but Sophie Schmitz would slot home the rebound on that second save to give Lander a 2-0 lead heading into the last frame in regulation.
Lander would face some adversity in the last ten minutes as a yellow card would force the Bearcats to defend the lead a man down but as that penalty expired, the Blue and Gold would be shown a green card and be forced to play the last two minutes a man down as well. However, the Lander defense was up to the task as they would not allow Wingate to shoot at all in those man-advantage opportunities to preserve the fifth shutout of the season for the Bearcats.
Lander will return home to Frank Hill Stadium on Tuesday to host the Coker Cobras for the final home game of the season. Graduate student, Kelsey Gibbons, will be honored at the game for Senior Day. That game is scheduled to start at 5:00 PM.
