GREENWOOD - After four straight road games to open up the season, the Lander Field Hockey team finally got to play in friendly territory as they treated the home fans to an offensive outburst in a 7-0 domination of the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters. The Bearcats move to 2-3 overall and in SAC play with the win.
The Bearcats were in control of the game from start to finish. Although Lander could not find the back of the cage in the first quarter, it wasn't from a lack of chances as the Blue and Gold outshot LMU 9-0 in the first 15 minutes of action. All of those chances would finally pay off three minutes into the second quarter as Aniek Vreeken would slot home her first goal of the season to break the ice and give Lander the 1-0 lead. Six minutes later, Puck Boschma would find Frederique Van Der Houwen to double the Bearcat lead on Van Der Houwen's first goal of the season. The celebration has barely subsided from the second goal when Sophie Schmitz would slot home her team leading fourth goal of the season to grow the lead to 3-0 which is where we would stand going into the halftime break.
The Railsplitters would not get their first shot of the game until the one minute mark in the second quarter as the Bearcat defense was stifling as they would barely allow any Railsplitter attack to cross midfield.
Schmitz was not done scoring as she slotted home two more goals in the third quarter off assists from Boschma and Mollie McGann to increase the lead to 5-0 and give her the first ever hat-trick in program history.
Just like in the matchup in Harrogate where the Blue and Gold earned their first win in program history, Lander would not let up with a big lead in the fourth quarter as they would add two more goals from Justina Bossa and a fourth goal from Sophie Schmitz to replicate the 7-0 scoreline from the team's first matchup.
Goalies Kelsey Gibbons and Isabel Elenga were not asked to do much as the Bearcat defense only allowed three total shots but when the two were called into action, they delivered as each of them would have a save in a dangerous Lincoln Memorial chance to keep the shutout preserved.
The Bearcats are back at home on Tuesday evening as they welcome SAC foe, Belmont Abbey, to Frank Hill Stadium. That game is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM.
Keep up to date with your Bearcats, and never miss a moment of the action! Follow Lander athletics on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for continued updates! #cLawsUp
