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FARMVILLE, Va. – Miami (Ohio) goalkeeper Alysa Xavier saved eight shots, including a penalty stroke in the second half, to lift the RedHawks to a 2-1 win over Longwood in the Mid-American Conference opener Friday afternoon at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
Xavier stymied a Longwood team coming off a 2-1 win over Towson last Friday, helping the MAC preseason No. 2 pick RedHawks (5-3, 1-0 MAC) climb to the top of the conference standings on the first day of league play. The junior goalkeeper withstood 14 total shots and made five saves after halftime, allowing second-half goals from Geagy Pritchard and Bea Dechant to stand en route to Miami's second straight road win.
"We came out with a good gameplan," said Longwood head coach
Iain Byers. "We've been working hard on how we wanted to play them, and I have to give our team a ton of credit. They came out and executed exactly what we wanted to do against what I would consider the strongest team in the MAC. There were a couple small errors here and there that cost us those two goals, but to come back and show the spirit to score that goal toward the end and push on, it shows progress."
Miami entered the game leading the MAC in scoring margin, shutouts, goals against average and goals scored with Xavier also leading the league in goals against average and save percentage. Longwood goalkeeper
Lauren Bernard matched that performance in the first half, however, making five first-half saves to carry a scoreless draw into halftime.
However, it was Pritchard that broke the scoreless game open just under two minutes into the second half, charging into the arc on a breakaway and beating Bernard one-on-one for Miami's go-ahead goal. Longwood had a chance to tie the game after the RedHawks were whistled in the arc for a penalty stroke in the 46th minute, but Xavier emerged the hero again when she batted away
Meghan O'Connor's potential equalizer aimed at the top right corner.
Dechant followed 12 minutes later with a goal from the top of the arc initiated by a penalty corner, and Xavier carried her shutout until the 69th minute. Longwood senior and active scoring leader
Jennifer Burris finally broke through against with under two minutes to play, fielding a long pass from
Edel Nyland on the left side, spinning around a defender and firing backhand into the lower right post.
That would be the last shot Longwood took, however, as Miami ran out the clock to preserve the win.
"I think that's definitely the hardest competition we'll play all year," said Longwood senior captain
Ellen Ross, who played all 70 minutes Friday. "If we keep playing like that, we'll win every game for the rest of our conference schedule. We'll be facing them again, and I'm confident after today we can beat them."
Ross added that despite the loss, the Lancers have become a different team since the start of the season.
"I feel like since our first game against JMU, we've improved 100 percent. Everyone knew the importance of this game, and that's why we paid as well as we did. We just need to play 100 percent for all 70 minutes. We play well for 60 minutes, and it's those last 10 that we need to finish. We've already made so much progress with that, and we're only going to get better."
Longwood's next shot at improvement comes Sunday with a return to non-conference action in the form of a road trip to Atlantic 10 opponent Davidson. That game tips off at 1 p.m. and will precede Longwood's next home MAC matchup against Central Michigan Friday, Sept. 25.
"I don't think we're the finished product yet, but that's ok," Byers said. "As long as we're there by the end of the season, that's our goal. We, as a team, have done a great job pushing each other, so we're going to continue to do that. Davidson is always a big game, and Central Michigan is the next MAC game so that's going to be huge for us."
#GoWood
