ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop's Pietro Bottari tallied three assists to lead the Eagles to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Longwood Saturday night at Eagle Field.

Playing on his senior night, Bottari helped the Eagles erase a first half 2-1 deficit and tallied the game-winning assist on a play in the 60th minute where he set up Nil Vinyals with a through ball.

Following the go-ahead goal, Longwood searched for the equalizer and senior Finnlay Wyatt led that effort with two of Longwood's five shots in the game's final 30 minutes. The best chance came when he rifled a shot from the middle of the field that clanked off the post and narrowly missed.

With the loss, Longwood faces a must-win game Wednesday, Nov. 2 in its regular season finale against Commonwealth foe Liberty to punch its ticket into the Big South Championship.

"We allowed the game to swing in the balance all night," said head coach Jon Atkinson. "We did well to recover for an early setback to get in the driver's seat, but we never kicked on and ultimately paid the price."

Goals from Marten Pajunurm and Connor Rea answered Winthrop's fourth-minute goal from Leif Estevez and gave Longwood a 2-1 lead midway through the first half.

Pajunurm's first tally of the season came in the 19th minute off a set piece, as he finished the play into the back post.
Rea tallied his first goal since Longwood's 4-0 win over VMI in his collegiate debut, beating Eagle goalkeeper Hector Fernandez in a one-on-one situation.

Both Longwood goals were set up by Longwood senior Finnlay Wyatt, as he has tallied four points over his last four games. Wyatt continues to enjoy the best season of his Longwood career, holding the team lead with 16 points to rank sixth in the Big South.

Longwood's lead was short-lived, as Winthrop's Rasmus Arousell tied the game with his sixth goal of the season in the 27th minute off a throw-in where he settled the ball, turned and fired to the left side of the goal.

That setup the game-winner from Vinyals in the 60th minute and the third assist of the night to Bottari.

From that point, Winthrop was able to hold on with Hector Fernandez making one of his two saves of the night in that stretch. Senior goalkeeper Carlos Canas took the loss for the Lancers, making four saves on 18 shots faced.

Longwood will look to play its way into the Big South Championship field with a win in its regular season finale. With kickoff slated at 6 p.m., Longwood's six seniors, including Canas, Wyatt, Evan and Vaughn Fowler, Michael Margulis and Zach Corcoran will be honored prior to the start of the game.

#GoWood