NEWBERRY, S.C. - A Leira Van Tilburg (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands) goal right before halftime was all the Lander Field Hockey team needed as a strong defensive effort helped the Bearcats shutout the SAC's top-scoring team and the eighth-ranked team in the country in the Newberry Wolves by a score of 1-0 on Tuesday evening at Setzler Field.
Lander improves to 10-5 overall, their second time in the program's three seasons reaching the 10-win mark, and 9-3 in South Atlantic Conference play. The Bearcats now sit in a three-way tie for first place in the SAC Standings with Newberry and Limestone. The win was also the program's third-ever over an NFHCA-ranked team, joining the wins over eighth-ranked Millersville and fourth-ranked Mount Olive last season.
The Wolves dropped only their third game in 16, falling to 13-3 overall and 9-3 in league play.
Newberry seemed prime to score in the first quarter as they outshot Lander 5-1, including being awarded a penalty stroke midway through the quarter which was pushed wide, but Isabel Elenga (Hillegom, Netherlands) made two saves and Victoria Hulst (Maarssen, Netherlands) added a defensive save to keep the Wolves off the board
The Bearcats started to grow into the game late in the second quarter as they were awarded five successive penalty corners and got four shots off of them. On the fourth shot, Van Tilburg lined up a shot from the very top of the shooting circle that found the back of the cage with only three seconds left on the clock to give Lander the lead going into halftime.
In the second half, the Bearcat defense clamped down, only giving up two shots— both in the fourth quarter and none of which were on target—to stifle a Newberry attack that had averaged over two and a half goals per game coming in and secure the win.
Lander continues its four-games-in-six-day stretch on Halloween night as it welcomes the Limestone Saints to Greenwood in a makeup of a game that was postponed on October 1st due to Hurricane Helene. Both the Bearcats and Saints control their destiny for at least a share of the SAC Title. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 PM start and will also be the team's Breast Cancer Awareness Game.
