Bruton High School’s field hockey team handed visiting Nansemond-Suffolk Academy its first loss of the season on Tuesday with a final score of 6-0.

“Last year, they beat us 12-1, so we did make some progress,” Lady Saints coach Ashley Skinner said. While happy about that, she added, “I felt like we definitely could have stepped up and played more of our game.”

Hurting this effort was the shortage of NSA players, particularly in comparison to the Lady Panthers. NSA, which had a player who was not able to attend, only had 12 on hand, while Bruton had about 20.

Because of the shortage of players and a lack of good passing, the significant afternoon heat became more of a factor.

“We should have utilized our passing options a bit more,” Skinner said. “We played too much by ourselves, we needed to use each other a bit more.”

The Lady Panthers scored three goals in the first half and three in the second.

But the Lady Saints were not without standouts.

“I think that Paige Christiansen kept the backfield strong for us,” Skinner said of the sophomore. “She adjusted to another position since we’re missing one of our starters.”

Seniors Sarah Higinbotham and Jessie Lerner were playmakers on offense, and Skinner said, “We definitely had opportunities to score, we just didn’t finish.”

Nansemond-Suffolk (2-1-1) visits Southampton High School today and hosts Northampton High School tomorrow.