The Lakeland High School and Nansemond River High School field hockey teams made their only meeting this season a memorable one under an alternately sunny and overcast sky on Wednesday evening.

The visiting Lady Cavaliers took an early lead, the Lady Warriors tied things up on a late goal, a scoreless overtime session followed and the visitors emerged victorious in a dramatic shootout.

“We just persevered through the whole thing,” Lakeland coach Cortney Parker said. “They didn’t give up, they easily could have. Nansemond River’s a great team, they controlled a lot of the game, but we held our own.”

The Lady Warriors had the benefit of 17 offensive penalty corners throughout the game compared to the Lady Cavs’ three, but the home team could not convert those chances into goals most of the time.

Describing the story of the game, Nansemond River coach Ali Mowry said her team had “a lot of missed opportunities.”

She noted that despite being drained a little bit from Monday’s game against Hickory High School, her girls’ effort was there, but she thought the Lady Cavaliers were a step ahead on Wednesday.

“They were winning the 50/50 balls,” she said.

Lakeland enjoyed some momentum near the start of play, using it to take an early 1-0 lead off a goal by junior Kendall Lewis, who got an assist from junior Lexis Munford.

The Lady Warriors finally responded with 7:06 to go in regulation when sophomore Ashlyn Rogers scored, unassisted.

The game might have been a blowout in Nansemond River’s favor if not for the tremendous performance in goal by Lady Cavs junior Deleah Scott, who finished the contest with nine saves.

After overtime, a big test remained for her via the shootout, but she gave her team the room it needed by preventing two Lady Warriors from scoring.

“She played awesome,” Parker said. “I know if we can get to shootouts, we’re going to win because she’s the deciding factor in a lot of the shootouts we’ve had.”

This is Scott’s first year on varsity, but she is coming through for her team in the clutch.

“It’s just a matter of I see everyone else working hard, so I work hard,” Scott said. “It’s a team effort, and they make me want to do my job because they do theirs.”

Scoring for the Lady Cavaliers in the shootout were senior Stasha Waterfield, senior Shannon Leonard, Kendall Lewis and freshman Allison Thompson.

“We made a lot of mistakes, but we didn’t let that get to us,” Parker said. “We just kept fighting, and that’s what this team has been about since last year when I took over, just fighting for everything they got.”

After suffering its first loss last year to Nansemond River since 2002, Lakeland reclaimed momentum in the cross-city rivalry.