FARMVILLE, Va. – After seeing its lead fall to one in the final minutes, Old Dominion survived a fierce Longwood comeback, led by senior Sarah Butler, to escape with a 14-13 win over Longwood women's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon at the Athletics Complex.
 
Old Dominion's (1-0) Imani Black fought and gained possession in the ball on the game's final draw control in the game's final minute to stave off Longwood's (0-3) last comeback attempt. The Lady Monarchs survived a 7-1 run led by Butler, who headed the Lancers' spirited second-half charge with three goals and one assist.
 
"It was great that our team never gave up and fought back from the large deficit to give us an opportunity to win the game," said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "We need to be more consistent in executing our gameplan and putting two good halves together. Once we do that, we'll be much closer to seeing the success from our efforts."
 
The Lady Monarchs extended the gap to 9-3 upon two unanswered goals to start the second half, which started with a Natalie Ledwitz free-position goal and was followed by senior Ashmore Standings third goal of the game four minutes in.  Standings led Old Dominion's offense with four goals in the team's season opener.
 
After falling behind 13-6, Longwood freshman Stephanie Roberts and Butler provided the Lancers a much-needed spark to the seven-goal run. Roberts and
Butler took advantage of their team playing a man up, as each scored on back-to-back free position shots to cut the deficit to five with under nine minutes remaining.
 
Quickly responding on the other end, however, Old Dominion midfielder Connor Carson scored what wound up to be the game-winner on a free position shot of her own to push the Lady Monarch's scoring advantage to 14-9.
 
On the ensuing draw, which was controlled by the senior leader in Butler, Longwood immediately called their final timeout of the game.
 
The decision proved to be a game-changing, energizing moment as the Lancers came out of the break and gained possession on five consecutive draw controls. Those draws controlled by the Lancers led to immediate goal opportunities on offense, as the team scored five unanswered goals to end the game.
 
"After that last timeout by the coaches, we really had in our minds it was a winnable game. We came out of it with the energy and determination we needed," said Butler. "Unfortunately, the result wasn't what we would have liked it to be, but it was good to have that big run at the end. It showed that we can really pull together and compete."
 
Following the timeout, the senior-freshman combo of Butler and Roberts once again came up big with a combined three goals within a minute of each other. Roberts first scored with 5:19 on the clock off the find from Butler. Over the next 42 seconds Butler would score two goals, one of which was off the set up from Roberts, to bring the Lancer goal total to 11.
 
In the closing two minutes, Longwood scored two more goals to bring the Lancers to within one. Sophomore midfielder Madison Stair brought the score to 14-12 after taking advantage of the yellow card given to Old Dominion's Standing.
 
Longwood's other pair of seniors, Lisa Schell and Katie McHugh gave their team a chance to tie the game after bringing their team within one goal of the Lady Monarchs. With under a minute-and-a-half remaining, McHugh found Schell in the circle to bring the score to 14-13.
 
In spite of giving up a 16-13 draw control advantage after failing to control any of the previous draws, Old Dominion captured the most crucial one.  Black's draw control helped the Lady Monarch's run the clock out with one minute remaining to end the Lancers chances at coming back.
 
In the first half, McHugh and Butler scored the team's first two goals before the end of the period. Butler's season-best four goals pushed her total to a team-leading seven, while McHugh finished with two goals to give Longwood's offensive leaders 11 goals and four assists in the team's last two outings.
 
Longwood now prepares for a two-game road trip to Georgia spanning the next 10 days. First, the Lancers will travel Mercer, Ga., to take on Mercer on Friday, Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. Two days later, the team will make a stop in Kennesaw, Ga., for a matchup against Kennesaw State beginning at 1 p.m.

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