BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University field hockey opened up the Meghan Dawson era with a 5-2 exhibition win over Limestone on Friday night at Brandon and Erica M. Adcock Field.
After a defensive first five minutes that saw neither team get on the board, Hanna French found Taylor Cimbalist for a score with just under 30 minutes to go in the first period. Over 13 minutes later, Savanna Sheridan rung up the first of her three assists as she tipped a corner from Micaela Diedericks to Hanna French who did the rest.
The Mountaineers took that 2-0 advantage into halftime, while the Saints were unable to take a single shot in the first half as Cristina Ceppi had a pretty easy first 35 minutes in the cage. That corner was one of 10 on the day for the home team while its visitors earned just one corner in three periods.
“I was impressed with the girls' desire to win, we came out with some nerves, but got past that and started to play some good hockey,” said Dawson. “I think one of the best things I saw today was our unselfishness towards each other and how every time we scored, we were so excited for that individual and didn't worry about who got the credit.”
In the second, Limestone scored for the first time with just over 12 minutes to play in the period before the Black and Gold put two into the back of the goal in the last five minutes and change. The first came from Caroline Phillips on a Sheridan assist at the 5:03 mark and Abbie Roberts scored at 1:57 on yet another Sheridan helper.
With the score at 4-1, the teams chose to play a third period that was 20 minutes long. In those 20 minutes, both teams scored once apiece. App State made it 5-1 on another Phillips goal, this time assisted by Sam Fuerstenberg, with 11:22 to play. At the 5:42 mark, the Saints cut the deficit to three, 5-2, and that's where the score would stand.
“We did a good job of getting the outlet passes out,” said Dawson. “We saw some major areas to improve upon, which is the point of exhibition play. Limestone was a really quick and athletic team that challenged us to not hesitate when going for the 50/50 balls.”
Overall, the Apps outshot Limestone 18-4 and 10-3 in shots on goal. After the three periods, the teams worked on one vs. one situations and then shook hands.
“We need to continue to work on our fitness and our discipline of focusing on the simple things for the entire time we're on the field,” said Dawson.
Next up, Appalachian State travels to Davidson on Saturday for a second exhibition beginning at 5 p.m. A third exhibition was added late and will be at Wake Forest on Sunday with the start set for 4 p.m.
