FARMVILLE, Va. – Hailey Machen delivered her third career shutout against a Winthrop team with the Big South's top goal-scorer to lead the Lancers to a 2-0 win Saturday evening at the Athletics Complex.
 
For 87 minutes, Longwood (5-4-1) bottled up Krystyna Freda, who entered the game with a league-high seven goals. Then, clinging to a 2-0 lead in the closing minutes amid a late Winthrop rally, Freda broke free and created a one-on-one matchup with Longwood's first-year starter in goal.
 
As Freda barreled toward the Longwood net in search of her 55th career goal, Machen abandoned her post and met Freda head-on, both players in a full sprint. As Freda loaded up to shoot, Machen threw her body at the forward's feet, arms raised, and deflected a point-blank shot to preserve the shutout and spoil what would be Winthrop's final scoring opportunity.
 
 "One-v-ones are always scary moments for keepers, but I found my line, came out strong and just reacted to it," Machen said. "There was less than five minutes left at that point, and I think coming up with that save gave us a boost to finish the game fighting."
 
Machen stonewalled Freda twice in the final 15 minutes, including a diving stop on a free kick from 25 feet out. The shutout is the most recent in a string of solid starts for the junior from Fairfax, Va., who owns a 5-3-1 record in her first season as Longwood's starting keeper.
 
"So happy for the team and how they responded after our mid-week overtime loss on the road," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer, who rallied his team following Wednesday's 2-1 overtime loss at Coastal Carolina. "That was the first first-half soccer we've played all year, and we had two great goals to show for it. Defensively we had to deal with some pressure in the second half, but we were still able to earn the shutout. Machen played a massive role in that with her performance in goal tonight."
 
Machen has allowed just three goals in her past four games with two shutouts during that span. She has given up just three goals in her three games following a loss.
 
"It's a lot of responsibility," Machen said of her role as goalkeeper. "Everyone relies on you as the last line of defense, but you have to put that same faith in your entire team. That's what I do. I put my faith in my team, and we have such an awesome team. I can tell them anything and they listen. They can stop anything in front of them."
 
The Lancers did just that through entire first half and more, holding Winthrop to just one shot through the first 50 minutes of the game. Longwood eliminated Freda from the gameplan early, and it wasn't until the 68th minute before senior forward made her first attempt at the net. She would take all four of her shots over the final 22 minutes, but Machen was there to deflect the only two that were on target.
 
Longwood redshirt freshman Natalie Fry took care of business on the other end of the field, registering her first career goal and assist to spark Longwood's offensive explosion in the first half. She started the Lancers' first scoring sequence in the 42nd minute, threading a pass from the corner of the penalty box right to the middle of the net where Olivia Colella corralled it and laced it in for a 1-0 lead.
 
Fry put one in herself less than three minutes later, fielding a long cross from Lilly Payne on a breakaway and sending it to the back of the net to put Longwood up 2-0 heading into halftime. Fry became the eighth Lancer to score this season.
 
A crowd of over 1,000 fans welcomed the Lancers back to their home field after four consecutive road games. Included in that crowd was every Longwood student-athlete on campus as part of the university's second Lancer Strong event of the year.
 
"It definitely feels good to be home," Machen said. "Especially with Lancer Strong and having the support of our athletes and classmates and families…just having everyone here, it makes a huge difference."
 
Longwood remains in Farmville for a Tuesday matchup against Francis Marion at 4 p.m. That will be the final non-conference game of the regular season for the Lancers, who follow with a road trip to Radford on Oct. 4 for the start of eight Big South games leading into the Big South Tournament.

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