KENT, Ohio – Ninety-six minutes and 40 seconds. That's how long it took the preseason favorite in the Mid-American Conference to beat an underdog Longwood field hockey squad playing in the program's first MAC Championship tournament.
 
In a semifinal game between the MAC's two highest scoring teams, No. 2 seed Miami (11-7) needed two overtimes and a game-winning goal from All-MAC forward Paula Portugal to outlast a gutty Lancer team eyeing a championship game berth in their first trip to the MAC tournament.
 
Portugal spoiled those hopes, breaking through in the 7-on-7 double overtime by turning a loose ball into a diving, breakaway game-winner in the 97th minute. The golden goal was the second of the game for Portugal, who sent the preseason MAC favorite RedHawks to a championship game showdown against No. 1 seed Kent State, which beat No. 4 seed Ball State 4-1 in Friday's other semifinal matchup.
 
"At the end of the game, I had to tell the team how proud I was of them," said Longwood's ninth-year head coach Iain Byers, who has taken the Lancers from a 6-12 record in 2014 to a 7-10 mark in 2015 and the 9-9 record the Lancers finished with this season.
 
"It was a wonderful performance that showed huge amounts of growth as a program, not only this season but in the four years these seniors have been here as well."
 
Longwood's upset-minded performance featured by a game-tying goal in the 60th minute from All-MAC defender Lil-Sophie Achterwinter, who erased Miami's 2-1 lead on a penalty corner sequence that went from senior inserter Jordan Chapman to starter and All-MAC first-teamer Edel Nyland. Nyland found Achterwinter on the right corner, opening up her junior classmate for a line drive score to the opposite corner.
 
It was Portugal who had the final say, however, ending the game with her 18th goal of the season to send the RedHawks to their fourth straight win and match Nyland atop the MAC goals leaderboard. The victory snapped a three-game win streak for the Lancers, who saw their fifth nine-win season of the Division I era come to a close against a Miami team that has won two of the past four MAC titles.
 
"I'm just so proud of how we played today, how we fought and how we executed our game plan," Byers said. "Obviously it's very sad for our seniors to go out on a loss, especially one like this, but they've been the key to our success. They'll be the building blocks that our program rests on in years to come."
 
That senior class revolved around four-year starting midfielder and All-MAC first team selection Ellen Ross, who served her final season as Longwood's lone team captain. The center midfielder played 93 of the MAC semifinal's 97 minutes, holding the conference's second-leading scoring team to just two goals in regulation before Portugal broke free against Longwood's abridged defense for the game-winner.
 
"I think we played an awesome game," said Ross, who started all 75 games of her Longwood career and spent three years as a team captain. "We really deserved to win. For the first time in the 13 overtime games my class has played in, we completely dominated. Miami got one lucky chance. I'm really proud of this team and how far we've made it. We definitely made history. Longwood will definitely be back next year."
 
Ross and fellow seniors Chapman, Lauren Bernard, Lindsey Lysher and Allison Savage leave the Longwood program as the first senior class to advance to the MAC Championship tournament, doing so behind the second nine-win campaign of their four years, a program-best No. 3 finish in the MAC standings and a MAC-leading 50 goals, the second most in Longwood's Division I era.
 
Bernard capped her three-year stint as Longwood's starting keeper with four saves, three of which came in regulation after Achterwinter's game-tying goal in the second half. Chapman dished an assist in her final game, capping a breakout senior season in which she set career highs with three goals, 11 points and a team-high six assists. Lysher, meanwhile, started all 18 games in the midfield her final season, facilitating a Longwood offense that featured nine goal-scorers and boasted the third-largest scoring margin in the MAC.
 
The departure of those five seniors sets the stage for Longwood's eight-member junior class to take the reins in 2017, led by three-time All-MAC selections Nyland an Achterwinter. That class is Longwood's first to spend all three seasons  in the Mid-American Conference and will vie for their second straight MAC postseason appearance next season.
 
"We will move on from the loss," Byers said. "This is just another thing that lights the fire for us."
 
The Lancers conclude the season with three wins in their final four games, all MAC victories that rebounded turned the tide from an 0-3 in conference play and righted the ship after Longwood opened the year with a 6-3 start that was the best of the Division I era. Longwood will return eight of 11 starters from that squad next season, including their top three goal-scorers and six players who played at least 900 minutes.
 
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