Breaking in the newly installed navy blue artificial turf for the first time at the Longwood Athletics Complex, Longwood battled reigning Atlantic 10 champion Richmond to a scoreless draw during an 80-minute preseason field hockey exhibition Saturday afternoon.

Longwood’s goalkeeping trio of Lauren Bernard, Allison Savage and Katie Wyman combined for six saves in shutting out a Richmond team that averaged 2.0 goals per game last season en route to winning the A-10 Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. The game marked the fourth straight year Longwood and Richmond have squared off in either regular season or exhibition action and was the first time during that span Longwood walked away without a loss.

“We’ve played Richmond every year, and it’s always been a tight game or one where we felt we gave up more goals than we should have,” said senior midfielder Meghan O’Connor. “Holding them scoreless through basically three halves, we’re proud of that. It’s a great accomplishment, and it gives us something to take into the regular season.”

The Spiders increased the pressure on Longwood’s net as the game progressed, taking 10 of their 13 shots over the final 45 minutes of play, but Bernard helped weather that offensive surge with three saves during a 25-minute second period. That performance came after the freshman Wyman contributed 35 shutout minutes in the opening frame. Bernard would go on to bookend the shutout with five scoreless minutes in the final period after Allison Savage handled 15 shutout minutes in period three.

Despite the performance of those three, however, the Spider goalkeeping unit of Amanda Hoyt and Emily Braunewell was equally effective in keeping Longwood’s offense at bay. Hoyt stopped both of Longwood’s shots on goal in the first half before Braunewell took over and did not face a shot on goal the rest of the way.

“It was great to have Richmond on campus. They’re a great team, we love the coaching staff and they’re good friends,” said Longwood head coach Iain Byers. “We got a really good workout in and go to find out a little bit about our team, and I’m sure Richmond got to find out a little about their team as well. It was just a really good day.”

Longwood’s preseason opener came just three days after the installation of the program’s new custom navy blue turf that will serve both the Lancer field hockey and women’s lacrosse programs at the Athletics Complex.

“It’s wonderful being home on the new field,” Byers said. “We got 20 minutes on it yesterday, so it was good to finally see what it’s like. It looks amazing, the color’s really sharp, and it plays unbelievably. We’re so thankful to the school to support the program and give us such an amazing facility. This is perfect.”

The Lancers will have just over one week to learn their new playing surface before the season opener against James Madison on August 30 at noon.