Lakeland defeated Landstown and Heritage to move its record in the Lakeland Invitational field hockey tournament to 4-0 on Thursday afternoon. After Ashley McCord knocked in a pair of goals on her team’s way to a 5-0 win over the Lady Eagles, Erin Bradley, Lindsay Kelly, and Katelyn Smither scored in a 3-0 win over the Lady Hurricanes.

The Lady Hurricanes managed two quick shots in the opening moments of the game, but the Lakeland offense quickly gained control, pushing the Heritage defense on its heels. At the eight-minute mark, Bradley took an assist from McCord and blasted the team’s fourth shot into the Heritage goal, the center midfielder’s second score of the tournament.

Lakeland didn’t let up, playing much of the first half on the Heritage side of the field. With just under 15 minutes to play, Kelly dashed over the center of the circle outside the Heritage goal, and snapped a shot toward the goalie.

The goalkeeper kicked the ball back out, but Kelly never stopped moving. She took the rebound, and smacked it just inside the right goalpost.

&uot;I just saw that nobody was on the ball, and went for it,&uot; said Kelly, playing with a broken bone in her hand. &uot;When you’re in the circle, you’re always thinking, ‘Got to score!’&uot;

With 5:31 to go in the half, Bradley hit a corner shot to Smither, who scored her second goal of the afternoon. At halftime, Lakeland held a 7-2 shooting advantage.

At the beginning of the second half, goalkeeper Kelsey Cutchins got her moment in the spotlight. The Heritage offense laced a shot toward Cutchins, and the goalkeeper fell on top of the it. The ball squirted out from under her, and struck the foot of a Lakeland defender on the goal line, resulting in a penalty shot.

The shooter lifted the ball over Cutchins’ right shoulder, but she leaped forward and knocked it over the goal to preserve her third shutout of the tournament.

&uot;My coach told me that I should watch the ball, not the shooter, on a penalty shot,&uot; said Cutchins. &uot;If you look at the shooter, they might fake you out with their eyes or stick. I just saw where it was going, and got there as fast as I could. But my whole defense was really good today, so I didn’t have to do too much.&uot; The Lady Cavaliers will take on Norfolk’s Granby High School at 2 p.m. today.

In other action, Nansemond River fell 6-0 to Kecoughtan and 2-0 to Tabb as the Lady Warriors’ record in the tournament fell to 1-3. Nansemond River outshot the Lady Tigers 4-3 in the first half of the Tabb loss, but Kara Shifflett and Sarah Baylor scored in the second half for the win.