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Longwood field hockey got penalty corner goals from Luna Lopez and Kolbey Donahue as the Lancers beat Central Michigan 2-1 on the road on a chilly Tuesday afternoon in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Lopez, a two-time member of the All-MAC first team, opened the scoring 17:22 into the game to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. The goal was her first of the season, and came after Donahue received an insert pass from Jamie Wright and slid it to Lopez in the center of the arc, where she ripped it through traffic and into the back of the net.

Donahue doubled the Lancer lead late, scoring her fourth goal in her last two games at the 54:38 mark to give Longwood a 2-0 lead. Her shot rocketed past a diving Katie Maxim, the Chippewa goalkeeper, and into the corner of the net for her fifth goal of the season. Alice O’Hagan answered with a penalty corner goal for Central Michigan (5-5, 3-4 MAC) just 18 seconds later, but the Lancer defense clamped down the rest of the way to clinch the 2-1 win.

“Today was a nice win over a combative Central Michigan team,” Longwood head coach Iain Byers said. “We are excited to close out the season at Appalachian State and continuing this run we are on.”

The win is Longwood’s third in their last four games, as the Lancers (6-5, 4-5 MAC) have now won their last six matchups against the Chippewas. They again held a large edge in shots, leading in attempts by a margin of 19-6, their fourth-consecutive game attempting at least 16 shots as well as their eighth time limiting their opponent to just single-digit shot attempts. Nine different Lancers tallied shots, including at least two from Lopez, Donahue, Sophia Loscher, and Caroline Verhappen. Longwood also held a pivotal edge in penalty corners, 15-4, as all three goals of the match were scored on corner attempts.

Donahue led that charge for Longwood, attempting five shots while playing all 60 minutes on Tuesday. Lopez, who also logged all 60 minutes, added four shots, as the dynamic pair combined for Longwood’s two goals. Jamie Wright notched two assists, both on penalty inserts, as the junior has now five assists in her last two games and leads the team with six in 2021.

Maxim was able to slow down the Lancer offense despite the heavy pressure, as the freshman made a career-high 11 saves for Central Michigan. Her counterpart in the Longwood net, Madison Nuckols, made two saves to pick up her fourth win of the season while playing in front of the stout Lancer backline of Donahue, Rio Weber, and Ana Paula Lazaro.

The Lancers will hit the road one final time, as they wrap up their season with a two-game series at Appalachian State on Friday-Saturday, April 23-24 in Boone, North Carolina.