October 2, 2010

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 2-0 women's soccer shutout victory past visiting Howard University of the Great West Conference Saturday afternoon at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. Freshman Kelsey Pardue|Henrico (Hermitage) scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 75th minute for the Lancers (8-5) who won their seventh-straight home match this season against the Bison (4-6). Longwood will return to action on Friday, October 8, back on the road again at Wright State University of the Horizon League in Dayton, Ohio beginning at 7 p.m.

Longwood and Howard battled to a scoreless opening period with the match 0-0 at the intermission, though the Lancers controlled the action and had a 9-2 advantage in first-half shots. It remained scoreless well into the second half, while LU continued to put lots of pressure on the stubborn Bison before finally changing the scoreboard at 74:57. Pardue took control of a loose ball near the top of the box and shot successfully into the lower right corner of the net for her third goal of the year. Sophomore Lindsey Ottavio|Fairfax (W.T. Woodson) added an insurance goal for the hosts about 10 minutes later when she took a nice pass in the box from senior Jessica Varela|Midlothian (Clover Hill) and beat the keeper left for her team-high 12th goal this fall. Ottavio was ranked in a tie for third this week in Division I goals, while tied for eighth nationally in points. Pardue was ranked 65th this week in DI assists (6), while Varela now has five assists during 2010.

“Howard made things very difficult on us today,” said 17th-year head coach Todd Dyer '93. “We had a lot of possessions and needed to find a way to break them down and not rush everything when we got to the final third -- eventually we were able to do that in the second half. It took everything we had to get a result.”

Longwood took a 21-4 advantage in shots, including 10-0 in attempts on-goal, while taking a 5-0 advantage on corner kicks as well. Graduate keeper Marcia Biddle|Woodbridge (Gar-Field) played the duration in front of the net for the Lancers to earn her fourth shutout this season. Cheyra Bell played the entire match for Howard with eight saves.

It was the 11th meeting between the two schools in the sport of women's soccer as Longwood continues to lead the all-time series at 9-2. Additionally, the Lancers have now won seven of eight home matches this season, the only setback being the 1-0 loss to the University of Richmond in the home opener on August 22.