Driest's OT Goal Lifts Radford to 2-1 Win Over SMS

Radford, Va. – Radford University and Megan Driest (Fredericksburg, Va.) made the most of their first field hockey night game in school history. The senior scored off a corner 9:50 into overtime, giving the Highlanders a 2-1 NorPac victory over Southwest Missouri from a cold and wet Dedmon Center Field. Radford improves to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the conference, while SMS falls to 2-5 and 0-1. The victory also snapped the Bears’ eight-game regular season conference win streak that dated back to 2000.

With the score 1-1 after regulation, SMS would draw the first chance to score. They were able to get a corner just a minute into the extra frame, but were unable to get off a shot. RU took advantage of their third corner when Lenhardt took the push from Alison Douglass (Springfield, Va.) and dribbled it into the circle and dropped it off to Driest who rifled it home past Bears’ keeper Tiffany Sands for the win.

Radford controlled early on in the first half and took a 1-0 lead when the conference’s leading scorer, Erin Lenhardt (Hayes, Va.), found the back of the net at 24:15. The junior tallied her seventh goal of the season after collecting a loose ball and putting it home from the top of the circle.

SMS started to gain some momentum in the last ten minutes and it finally paid off as Leah Postorino made a nice run and fired a low shot far side past RU keeper Tina Caiazza (Fairfax, Va.) with 2:33 left in the half.

The Highlanders ended the game outshooting the Bears, 9-6 and having the advantage in penalty corners, 9-6 as well. Caiazza made one save on the night, while Stiles stopped three shots.

The two teams will meet up tomorrow at 4 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. but do to the inclement weather it has been moved up.

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