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FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood freshman
Sheyenne Stretz scored a goal in her first collegiate game, but a four-save performance off the bench from East Carolina goalkeeper Genavieve Ramirez thwarted a late offensive onslaught by the Lancers and preserved a 1-1 tie in the preseason debut for both teams Friday night at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
Squaring off in an exhibition matchup for the second straight year, Longwood and East Carolina traded a possession battle in the first half for a shooting barrage in the second in front of a capacity crowd of over 500 fans on the Lancers' home turf. Both goals came in the second half, including Stretz' go-ahead header off a corner kick and Courtney Cash's low-corner equalizer from the top of the box, before Ramirez rescued the Pirates with four saves in the closing minutes.
"Tonight was a good starting point for our season," said Longwood head coach
Todd Dyer, now entering his 22nd year at his alma mater. "We did some positive things that we can build on, and we also made enough mistakes to know what we need to focus on moving forward. ECU is obviously a solid program, and I thought we did more than just hold our own. Now it's time to get back on the training field and prepare for American."
The game marked the first time since Longwood reported to campus on Aug. 4 that the Lancers faced an opponent other than themselves. The result was 90 minutes of action in which the
Amanda Spencer-led Lancers outshot East Carolina 12-5 and put seven shots on goal against a Pirate squad that won last year's matchup 3-1 and was coming off a 12-8-1 season.
"I think we were all excited to get out there because we were tired of playing ourselves," said Spencer, who enters her junior season as Longwood's active scoring leader with 16 goals. "We lost to East Carolina in our preseason game last year, so it was exciting for us to have a chance to win this game this year."
Spencer rocked two shots on the East Carolina net in the final 10 minutes of the game, but Ramirez got in front of both to keep the game tied. Ramirez deflected the first of those right to the feet of Longwood senior midfielder
Meghan Magee but recovered immediately to swat away Magee's putback attempt. Ramirez would go on to survive two more shots and three corner kicks before the final horn.
Alongside veteran midfielders Magee and Spencer, Dyer put his highly-touted freshman class on display by starting Spotsylvania High School standout
Emily Hunter and using four other newcomers off the bench. Stretz, a former Kellam High School star, got on the board in the 54th minute when she headed in a corner kick from
Olivia Colella, while Hunter contributed 53 minutes to a defensive backfield that gave up just two shots on goal.
Hunter complemented Longwood's veteran defensive quartet of
Alana Mackey,
Jayden Metzger,
Jessica O'Bryant and
Haylea Witz, who disrupted shooting lanes in front of keepers
Hailey Machen and
Maria Kirby. The senior Machen went the entire first half without facing a shot on goal before Kirby took over in the second half. Kirby, a sophomore, deflected the first shot on goal she saw with a diving save, but suffered the consequence of Longwood's lone defensive lapse when East Carolina freshman Courtney Cash drilled the equalizer just past her outstretched fingertips from the top of the penalty box.
"I think moving forward we just need to stay dialed in the entire game," Spencer said. "We had a 10-second lapse where they scored, and that's all it takes. We just need to stay focused the entire game and not let that happen."
Longwood opens the 2015 regular season against American on Friday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Athletics Complex. That game precedes another home game on Aug. 23 against Youngstown State, which will be the culmination of Longwood University's Greatest Athletics March Ever (The G.A.M.E.) presented by the Office of First Year Experience and sponsored by Barnes & Noble and the Town of Farmville.
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