October 31, 2010

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 4-1 women's soccer decision to visiting Morehead State University of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Sunday afternoon at the Athletics Complex in Farmville. Junior Kacie Oliver|Portsmouth, R.I. (Portsmouth) scored the only goal for LU in the 72nd minute on Senior Day for the host Lancers (11-8) against the Eagles (11-6-1) in the final match of the 2010 season. Longwood finished with its 12th overall 10-win season in the 17-year history of the program, including its fifth consecutive winning year, and 14th overall winning campaign since the team began competition in 1994.

Longwood fell behind early against Morehead State as Sam Toepfer scored on a header from a corner kick by Sarah Phillips at 10:44. The Eagles made it 2-0 at the intermission after Jillian Birchmeier scored just minutes later at 16:17. MSU added to its advantage with a third goal by Giuleana Lopez in the second period at 63:29. The Lancers avoided the shutout when Oliver took a nice through ball pass from freshman Kristi Dixon|Yorktown (Grafton) and finished with the one-touch into the back of the net at 71:17. The visitors closed out the scoring at 81:25 with Erin Adams beating the keeper one-on-one to account for the most goals allowed by LU all season, and since a 4-0 loss to Virginia Tech on November 1, 2007.

“It has been a good season, and a great career for our five seniors,” said 17th-year head coach Todd Dyer '93 (186-112-16). “We just needed to be better in our last game of the season. One game does not reflect all the work that this senior group has put into it, so we'll just focus on the positives and build on the rest for the future.”

Longwood had a 17-6 advantage in shots, though only 8-6 in attempts on-goal, and led 5-3 on corner kicks as well. Graduate keeper Marcia Biddle|Woodbridge (Gar-Field) played the duration (90:00) in front of the net for the Lancers with two saves. Lily Meisner played the first 77:00 for Morehead State with six saves and one goal allowed, while Katie Blevins played the final 13:00 with one save.

In addition to Biddle, the other four seniors recognized during pre-game ceremonies were captain Katie Devlin|Fairfax (W.T. Woodson), Kayla Huggins|North Haven, Conn. (North Haven), captain Lauren Trizna|Manassas (Osbourn Park), and Jessica Varela|Midlothian (Clover Hill).

It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools in the sport of women's soccer. Longwood finished 8-2 at home this season, and is now 35-10-1 (.772) at the Athletics Complex over the five years of competition at the facility.