Box Score ATHENS, Ohio – Longwood fought to the very end. The Lancers battled the Ohio Bobcats to a scoreless draw through regulation, even overtime was not enough to separate the two sides. It would take a shootout to decide Longwood's second-ever Mid-American Conference contest and that's where Ohio finally took the decision with a 3-2 edge in penalties.
"Losing such tight games and particularly losing is a shootout is always a character building exercise," head coach
Iain Byers said. "It's always tough as a team to lose like that and we all share a disappointment in today's result. We feel we should have won today's contest and that we are capable of winning these tight games."
Longwood (2-4, 0-2) got a phenomenal performance in goal from sophomore
Lauren Bernard who faced a barrage of 16 Bobcat shots. Bernard started hot, stopping five shots in the first half and never looked back. The Lancers' keeper would stop a pair of chances in the second half before making her eighth and final save in the second overtime period.
Longwood had its chances as well, especially in the first half. Longwood once again opened the scoring opportunities with two quick chances from
Jennifer Burris and
Edel Nyland, but both were stopped by Ohio goalie Brittany Walker.
The Lancers had another pair of chances around the 22 minute mark as
Jessica Diaz and Burris were turned aside. From that point out, Longwood struggled to create offensive chances as the blue and white would not put a shot on goal for the rest of regulation and both overtime periods.
Neither team mustered much in attack during the overtime period as the two teams combined for just one shot on net in the 30 minutes of extra time. With nothing between the two sides, Longwood and Ohio headed to a shootout round. Ohio came out one shot better, as the Bobcats took a 1-0 victory after hitting three of five penalties.
After Longwood's first weekend in the MAC, coach Byers emphasized the need for the Lancers to continue growing as a team.
"We had good performances from a few individuals and with such a young team that is always nice, said Byers. "Now we need to get more consistent as a team and get better as a team. We'll use today's game to come together and get better. We knew the MAC would be tough and this weekend showed that, but we're determined to fight on and challenge in the MAC."
Longwood returns home to face Missouri State Thursday Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. for the Lancers' third-straight conference contest. Fans in attendance at Thursday's game will be eligible for $1 Big Macs at McDonald's in celebration of the first MAC home game.
