Gaffney, S.C. - 46 days ago, the Lander Field Hockey Team fell 3-0 to the Limestone Saints. On Saturday night, with a spot in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament on the line, the Bearcats got their revenge as a penalty stroke by Sophie Schmitz would be all that Lander needed as they would come away with a 1-0 win. With the win, the Bearcats secure the third and final spot from the SAC Mountain Division in the tournament and will face Belmont Abbey, the two-seed from the Piedmont Division, on Tuesday.
Lander would be on the front foot the whole game as they would outshoot the Saints 13-1 on the night and force ten saves from the Limestone keeper. Sophie Schmitz led the Bearcats with six shots and Lauren Punt had four of her own.
In the 42nd minute, Schmitz would be taken down inside the shooting circle by the Saints' keeper on a breakaway and was awarded the penalty stroke. The freshman converted her 1v1 opportunity for probably the biggest goal in program history so far to give Lander a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the way, the Bearcat defense was superb as they would stop Limestone before they would have a chance to threaten the Lander net on almost every single opportunity to close out the win.
Lander now turns its attention to their first round matchup with the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on Tuesday. The Bearcats fell to the Crusaders in a shootout in the two teams' matchup earlier this season. The start time for that game is still to be determined.
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