LEXINGTON, Va. - The Longwood University men's soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision at the Virginia Military Institute on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. Senior
Brian Germain/McLean (Langley) and junior
Harvey Headley/Coventry, England (Stoke Park) each scored one goal for the Lancers (1-5-2). Longwood returns to action on Tuesday, September 29, at Liberty University in Lynchburg at 7 p.m..
Longwood fell behind early as VMI's Kip Zechman took a pass from John Sisco and sent a blast from 25 yards just to the right of Longwood goalkeeper
Ben Eanes/Troutville, Va. (Lord Botetourt), giving the Keydets (1-6) the 1-0 lead in the second minute of the match. The Lancers had several opportunities to score early in the first half but senior
Martin Vickerton/Derbyshire, England (Kirk Hallam CTC) sent a shot over the crossbar and
Kevin Chico/Harrisonburg (Eastern Mennonite HS) had his shot stopped by VMI goalkeeper Adrian Dominguez.
The Lancers answered in the 55th minute when Germain scored his first goal of the season from 20 yards out, evening the score at 1-1. The Keydets responded in the 62nd minute with a Forrest Moul goal off a cross from Brian Harding. Eanes got a hand on the ball but could not come up with the save. Longwood pulled even in the 65th minute as Headley got behind the defense and beat the goalkeeper one on one to tie the game at 2-2. VMI would score the game winning goal on a Brandon Gary header off of a free kick by Zechman in the 72nd minute to go ahead 3-2. The Keydets would add an insurance goal in the 87th minute when Will Quarles scored to put VMI ahead 4-2.
“We looked good at times but we need to be more consistent,” said Longwood head coach
Jon Atkinson. “There is a learning curve when you have a young team and we are learning the hard way. We had plenty of opportunities to win this game but we didn't convert. There is still enough going our way in the games to keep some optimism in the program which is what we are doing.”
Longwood was led by Germain and Headley who had one goal each. Headley attempted six shots, one on goal while Germain had three shots and Vickerton attempted two. Eanes had four saves for Longwood.
VMI was paced by Zechman who had one goal and one assist on three shots. Dominguez had two saves for the Keydets.
The Lancers outshot VMI 20-12 and had a 10-5 edge in corner kicks. Four of Longwood's shots were on goal while eight of VMI's were on goal.
