FARMVILLE, Va. – A second straight shutout from goalkeeper Maria Kirby and a game-winning goal from Bridget Bergquist propelled Longwood to a 1-0 win over reigning Big South champion High Point in the conference opener Wednesday evening at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
Just three days after recording a school Division I-record tying 11 saves in a 1-0 win at Richmond, Kirby carded four more saves against the Big South No. 2 preseason pick Panthers (5-2-3, 0-1-0). The shutout was the third of the season for the reigning Big South Defensive Player of the Week, snapped High Point's streak of eight consecutive wins against Big South opponents and gave Longwood (5-4-0, 1-0-0 Big South) its third win in the past four games.
 
"High Point is traditionally one of the elite programs in our conference, so any time you can get a result against them you're doing something that's not easy to do," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer. "Defensively we had some scary moments, but in the end we were good enough to earn a shutout. Bridget had her big moment, which is long overdue, and she certainly deserves a goal that that was the difference in the game."
 
The shutout – Longwood's Big South-leading fifth of the season – stood on the strength of Bergquist's first goal of the year, a chip shot from 20 yards that arced into the upper right corner off the hand of High Point goalkeeper Alex Persiani. The goal was the second career game-winner for the Longwood senior, whose had her first shot of the game batted away by Persiani from point-blank range.
 
"I was fired up after getting the first one blocked," Bergquist said. "Their goalie made a nice save, but I knew I'd have another shot."
 
Bergquist's shot came just three minutes later when junior winger Gina D'Orazio found her with a dropback pass at the top of the arc. Bergquist one-timed the pass and lofted it into the upper right corner, just off the fingertips of a backpedaling Persiani to put the Lancers ahead for good.
 
The go-ahead goal put a charge into the Lancers, who held High Point to two shots and disrupted a pair of corner kicks the rest of the way. Kirby preserved the lead by intercepting one of those corners the 75th minute and then corralling High Point shots on goal in the 79th and 90th minutes.
 
"This is definitely a big win for us," said Kirby, who has allowed just three goals in 432-plus minutes in goal this season. "We played a really hard preseason schedule, and that toughened us up for games like this. Playing teams like West Virginia or Virginia Tech, they can break you down and you can learn from that."
 
Wednesday's win came after the Lancers concluded a stretch of five consecutive road games, including matchups at No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 5 West Virginia. Excepting those top-10 bouts – a 4-2 loss at No. 10 Virginia Tech and a 4-0 loss at No. 5 West Virginia – the Lancers have not allowed more than one goal all season, with Kirby responsible for three shutouts and Hailey Machen accounting for the other two.
 
The Lancers have now won three of their past four and will carry that momentum into Saturday's Big South showdown against Coastal Carolina, which also earned an opening night conference win over Presbyterian, 3-1. That matchup kicks off at 2 p.m. and will air on the Big South Network.