ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop senior Logan McCarthy's game-winning goal in the 55thh minute doomed the Lancers once again, as the defending Big South champion Eagles endured a hard-fought battle for a 10-8 victory over Longwood women's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.

McCarthy, who was one of four Eagles (13-2, 4-0 BSC) to score at least two goals, hit the go-ahead goal after being set up by Krista Frowein before Alexis Linhardt provided a dagger with 3:28 remaining to complete a comeback after facing an early 4-0 deficit to the Lancers (6-7, 2-2 BSC). Longwood, who played without two of its top-six goal scorers in Stephanie Roberts and Cassie Angeles, falls for the first time as a visitor at Winthrop and suffers its second straight defeat in the final minutes.

"We battled very hard again today despite some injuries," said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "Winning the game was well within our grasp, so walking away with the loss is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow."

The pair of late goals for Winthrop helped the squad break an 8-8 tie following a game-tying score by Longwood senior defender Shiloh McKenzie with 5:39 remaining. It also gave the reserves in McCarthy and Linhardt two goals apiece on the day, which provided four goals overall off the sidelines for the Eagles.

Longwood senior midfielder Sarah Butler and Katie McHugh helped the Lancers take an early lead at the half with an early 4-0 lead. Butler tallied a hat trick within the first 16 minutes of play, including her third goal after pushing the ball into the net after it deflected off a Winthrop defender, while McHugh scored the fourth with 10:46 remaining in the period.

McHugh then scored her second goal of the day as the half neared an end to put the Lancers up 5-3. The score came with 29 seconds to go in the first half and ended a stretch of three unanswered goals by the Eagles over a seven-minute stretch.

At the end of the first half, Winthrop received two straight goals from attacker Katie Clark to spark a stretch of three straight scores that gave the Eagles their first lead. Clark, who's three goals finished tied with Butler for the game-high, netted her first just nine seconds following McHugh's late score and then again on a position shot to tie the game nearly four minutes into the second half.

Senior attacker Danielle Ellis capped off the scoring run with a goal after being set up by Winthrop points leader Shannon Gallagher in the 42nd minute.

In addition to the multiple goal efforts from the nation's point leaders in Butler and McHugh, Longwood's other senior McKenzie joined the duo as one of three Lancers to find the net twice on the day. The senior defensive captain added extra support on attack to tie the game twice in the game, including her first goal at the 43-minute mark which evened the score 6-6 and started a stretch of two straight Longwood goals.

Following McKenzie's score, the Lancers regained the lead momentarily on Madison Stair's goal with 12:06 left on the game clock as part of the scoring run. Stair, who was held scoreless in the team's outing at Liberty, ended her scoring drought upon receiving a pass from Butler to give Longwood a 7-6 advantage.

Over the next five minutes, the Eagles received a boost from its own senior leaders in Gallagher and Clark to pull ahead 8-7. Gallagher found the net for her second score in 50th minute while Clark scored her third and final goal moments later to give Winthrop the lead, which it never gave back to Longwood despite the attempted heroics from McKenzie with the late game-tying goal.

Despite the final outcome, however, Longwood's defensive unit led by sophomore goalkeeper Imani West was able to keep the Lancers within striking distance of an Eagle squad that fired 26 shots on the day. West finished recorded eight saves while guiding a defense that forced eight other Winthrop shots to miss wide or deflect off the post.

In the end, however, Winthrop goalkeeper Alaina Girani was credited with the win to improve to 13-2 on the year upon making seven stops and collecting one groundball in 60 minutes of action. Behind the guidance of Girani, who leads the Big South in goals against average, the Eagles held their opponent to single-digit goals for the 14th time this season.

"On one hand, we gave ourselves great opportunities to win this game, as our defense came up with multiple stops. On the other hand, unfortunately, we gave Winthrop one too many opportunities to come back and win."

The Eagles' pressure on defense caused 14 Longwood turnovers while helping them gain extra possessions with a 19-12 groundball advantage. Those extra chances on the attack helped Winthrop finish with nine extra shots in the game.

Longwood, who entered the day averaging a league-best 14.42 goals per game, was also kept under 10 goals for just the third time this season after two of the Big South's top-three goal scorers McHugh and Butler were held scoreless in the final 30 minutes of action.

After a stellar first-half, McHugh and Butler finished with a combined six points for the day to give them 142 as a duo thus far in their senior campaign.

The Melbourne, Australia native Butler led all players with a game-high four points on the afternoon to pull to within four of Longwood's single-season points record. McHugh, a product of Burke, Va., finished with two points and is now only 26 shy of becoming the program's all-time career points leader.

Longwood will look to end its current two-game skid when it returns home to host Radford Wednesday, April 13. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m.

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