Took her long enough.

After three years of playing varsity field hockey at Lakeland, in the second-to-last Southeastern District regular season game of her high school career, Melissa Dunn finally did something she’d never done before.

She scored a goal.

Dunn smacked in an assist from Chelsey Salmon with two minutes left in the Lady Cavaliers’ 6-0 win over visiting Hickory Tuesday afternoon.

&uot;I’ve been up (on offense) before, but I haven’t scored,&uot; said Dunn, normally a defender. &uot;It wasn’t that big a deal, as long as we played well. It felt good to achieve something I’ve never done before.&uot;

Lakeland charged down the field straight from the opening face-off, as Lindsay Cutchins shot a pass to Stephanie Owen in the Hickory circle with a minute gone. Owen drove a shot at the Hickory keeper, who fell on top of the ball, giving Lakeland a penalty stroke. Owen hammered it into the left side of the cage.

After Lakeland tormented the Hickory defense with several more shots over the next 12 minutes, the Lady Cavaliers got a corner shot midway through the half. Cutchins sent it out to Lynsey Daughtry, who bounced a shot off the keeper’s leg. The ball ricocheted to Owen, who sent it back into the left side of the net. Just over three minutes later, Hickory was called for a penalty near the right sideline. Nicole Klee sent the free shot across the center to Sara Mazzone, who handed the ball to a wide-open Cutchins in the center for a 3-0 halftime lead.

The start of the second half was a near-replica of the first, as Lakeland again went right on the attack, culminating in a corner shot from Salmon to Cutchins 1:05 into the period. Cutchins sent Klee an assist 62 seconds later, and Dunn had the final goal.

The Lady Cavaliers played their final regular season game late Wednesday against King’s Fork. The district tournament will begin next Wednesday at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com