September 11, 2009

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took another exciting 2-1 women's soccer victory in double overtime past visiting Big South Conference member and in-state rival Radford University Friday night at the Athletics Complex in Farmville.  Senior Michelle DeSieno/Centreville (Chantilly) scored the game-winning goal (102:10) for the second-straight match as the Lancers won their third consecutive contest -- all against Big South schools -- to improve to 3-2 while the Highlanders are now 3-3.  Longwood will return to action on Sunday, September 13, hosting Appalachian State University of the Southern Conference for Joshua Bolt Day at the Athletics Complex in Farmville beginning at 4 p.m..  Admission is free.
    
Longwood and Radford were scoreless at the intermission before the defending Big South Tournament champions and NCAA Tournament participant Highlanders got on the board with a goal from Mary Wiley at 59:35, assisted by Kathleen Jarvis.  The Lancers evened the score again when DeSieno got a foot on the ball in front of the net on a cross from freshman Lindsey Ottavio/Fairfax (W.T. Woodson) and tallied her first goal.  It remained tied through regulation as each keeper made three saves in the second half, and was still at 1-1 through the first 10-minute extra period.  In the second OT, DeSieno once-again had a one-touch in the box on another serve from Ottavio and beat the keeper for the game-winning goal just 2:10 into the second extra period; pleasing yet another outstanding and boisterous crowd of 275.
    
“The entertainment value of our team right now is sky-high,” said 16th-year Longwood head coach Todd Dyer '93.  “We just like the trend of going down a goal and having a dramatic comeback in front of another enthusiastic home crowd ... We just kept fighting and finally pulled one out in overtime again.  I'm happy for this team and happy for our fans.  We'll just try to keep getting better and better.”
    
Longwood took a 17-8 advantage in shots, though only 7-5 in attempts on-goal, while Radford had a 4-3 edge on corner kicks.  Freshman keeper Kyra Byron/Richmond (Mills E. Godwin) played the entire match in front of the net for Lancers with four saves.  Lisa Lubke played the duration for the Highlanders as well with five saves.
    
In the past week, Longwood has defeated Big South members Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, and now Radford, each by identical 2-1 margins.