Amato has two goals, breaks Davidson’s all-time points record

Davidson College Sports Information
Brooke Osborne, Sara French and Melissa Funsten each scored in a shootout to help the Davidson field hockey team move to 4-0 in the NorPac with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Longwood at Belk Turf Field on Friday evening.

Davidson goalkeeper Sarah Fisher came up big every time the Cats needed her, making 14 saves in 100 minutes of action and made the game-winning save on Caitlin Smith’s shootout attempt.

Finley Amato, who became the Cats’ all-time leaders in points in the first half, led the offensive effort with both of the squad’s goals in regulation. She recorded a team-leading nine shots, four of which came on goal. Julia Guthrie and Melissa Funsten each picked up an assist on the evening.

Stacey de Grandhomme and Jennifer Burris each scored for the Lancers in regulation, while goalkeeper Meg Mitchell made six saves. De Grandhomme led the Lancers with 10 shots in the game as the Lancers outshot the Wildcats 24-15.

Burris put Longwood in front early on, notching an unassisted goal off of a rebound just five minutes in. Amato struck back with 15 minutes to play in the half, evening the score at 1-1. Guthrie sent a long pass into the circle, which Amato wasable to send in from right in front of the net to put her at 105 career points.

The Lancers made it 2-1 less than ten minutes into the second half. De Grandhomme was awarded a penalty shot and successfully converted the Lancers the advantage. However, Amato would again counter with a strike of her own. She took a feed from Funsten off of a penalty corner and sent it in to tie the game at 2-2.

Davidson’s defense remained strong in the last ten minutes of action, blocking two solid Lancer shots to keep the game tied. Down the other end, a shot by Amato went wide as the two teams would take it overtime.

The Cats started off the first overtime with three consecutive shots, all of which were saved by Mitchell. De Grandhomme had a shot blocked for the Lancers off of a penalty corner, and Fisher came up with a huge save on Christina Verhulst with four seconds to play in the first extra period to force a second one.

In the second overtime period Fisher was again a wall, coming up with three saves in a row. A last second effort by Amato went wide down the other end, moving the game into a shoot out.

Osborne made the first attempt of the shoot out, while Jessica Diaz missed for the Lancers to give Davidson the 1-0 lead. Both Amato and de Grandhomme would miss on their attempts before French converted for the ‘Cats. Verhulst scored for the Lancers as the ‘Cats remained ahead 2-1. Funsten and Kim Ruitter each converted, while Annie Evans did not convert and Fisher came up with a huge save on Smith to give the Wildcats the 3-2 shoot out win and 3-2 win in the game.

WAKE FOREST TUESDAY

The Cats will remain at home to host No. 16 Wake Forest on Tuesday afternoon in a 6 p.m. tilt at Belk Turf Field.

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