FARMVILLE, Va. – Senior Carlos Canas made eight saves and the Longwood men's soccer team erased a 1-0 deficit with a pair of goals in the final 19 minutes to earn a 2-1 win Monday night at the Longwood Athletics Complex.

A 72nd minute goal from senior captain Finnlay Wyatt and a Gardner-Webb own goal in the 83rd minute helped propel the Lancers to their first comeback win of the 2016 season and snap a three-game losing skid.

Canas, a captain for the third straight season, made eight saves in the game including a pair of key saves in the 60th minute to keep the blue and white in the game, as he robbed Gardner-Webb's Roman Edelman and Brian Stepanek to keep the Lancers within a goal.

Longwood (5-8-1; 2-3-0 Big South) vaults up the Big South standings with the crucial three points, as the Lancers move into a three-way tie for fifth-place in the standings and hold the tiebreaker with Campbell. In addition, the blue and white remain undefeated against the Runnin' Bulldogs since joining the Big South prior to the 2012 season, as Monday's result sinks Gardner-Webb (4-8-0; 1-3-0 Big South) to outside the tournament picture and eighth place in the standings.

"We knew this was a must-win game for us and we showed great character to comeback," said Longwood head coach Jon Atkinson. "We dropped a tough game two days ago at Presbyterian and our guys knew we had to win tonight. We're fighting every game for our lives. This game could be a turning point in our season."

Wyatt finished a Max Poelker cross from the right side in the 72nd minute. With the goal, Wyatt matches Poelker to lead the Lancers in goals for the season, as his header negated an early second-half goal from Gardner-Webb's David Koloko.

"I'm not sure if I've ever scored a goal with my head before," Wyatt said. "I can shrug it off now, as I'm happy with the result. We knew what was on the line and that we needed to get three points. The guys did a good job of rallying after we went down a goal and we were able to get the job done."

The goal from Wyatt marks his fourth in the last six games, as he has 11 points in that span with four goals and three assists.

"Goals galvanize teams," Atkinson said. "That goal came from two unlikely sources, as a header from Finnlay is a collector's item. We were able to put balls in good areas and good things happened for us."

Eleven minutes after Wyatt and Poelker combined for the equalizer, the Lancers took the lead for the first time in the game, scoring on a Gardner-Webb own goal in the 83rd minute.

The eight saves from Canas are the most since his career-best 10-save performance against ACC foe Virginia Tech earlier this season, as he moved to third in the Big South this season with a .759 save percentage and an 1.29 goals against average.

"I was just trying to do my job," Canas said. "Whether we're winning or losing, my job is to make every save I can. Credit our defenders, they're out there working hard for me and making my job that much easier."

Canas was supported by a back line of Marten Pajunurm, Tom Devitt and Evan Fowler, who all played the full 90 minutes in the match.

"The defense really stood up and saw that game out," Canas said.

With Monday's game being a make-up game from the contest originally scheduled for Oct. 8 but postponed by rain, Longwood concludes a stretch of three matches in a five-day period Wednesday at James Madison. The contest against the Dukes will mark Longwood's non-conference game of the season and is slated for a 7 p.m. start at Sentara Park.

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