EASTON, Pa. – A game-winning goal from Amanda Magadan 10 minutes into the second half lifted Lafayette past Longwood 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Rappolt Field.

Magadan's goal, assisted from Lisa Van Der Geest, came nine minutes after Longwood's Edel Nyland tied the game with her eighth goal of the season and handed Lafayette (2-1), voted preseason No. 3 in the Patriot League, its second win of the season.

Longwood (3-2) drops its second game of the season, coming less than 48 hours after dispatching Villanova, 2-1, Friday afternoon. The 3-2 start for the Lancers is their best stretch to open the first five games of a season since the program entered the Division I ranks.

"It was a huge game against a strong team," said Longwood head coach Iain Byers. "We battled all the way through. There were a couple challenges throughout the game that we said we wanted to overcome, and we did. Our final ball and final execution as a team wasn't good enough, and that's probably why we didn't get the goals we wanted."

The Longwood defense was spurred by a seven-save performance from Lauren Bernard. She was aided in the effort by the defensive backfield duo of Ellen Ross and Jordan Chapman, who each played all 70 minutes in the contest.

The Lancer defense has helped spur the team's best start in the Division I era, holding four of the five teams they've played to three goals or fewer. The only exception to that came at No. 19 James Madison.

Nyland, who has scored in all five of Longwood's games this season, has scored in six games dating back to last season and has already surpassed her career-high of six goals from last season.

Lafayette's Rosie Shanks opened the scoring in the 18th minute of play to hand the Leopards a 1-0 lead, sending a shot past Bernard.

That lead held until Nyland's goal to tie the game less than two minutes after halftime, as she slid a shot from the top of the box past Lafayette goalkeeper Katelyn Arnold. That set up the game-winner from Magadan 10 minutes later, as she fired a shot from the right side off a penalty stroke.

From there, Longwood pressed to score the game-tying goal with four shots on goal, compared to two for the Leopards. However, the Lancers were ultimately turned away by Arnold and the Lafayette back line.

Arnold (2-1) captured the win with three saves on five Longwood shots.

"We're still feeling confident about the way we're playing," Byers said. "If we can just connect a little bit better with our ball movement, we'll continue to be successful. We're looking forward to facing VCU and Davidson next week."

Longwood comes away from its grueling season-opening slate of five games in 10 days with a 3-2 record. The squad travels to Richmond, Va., Friday, Sept. 9 for a 6 p.m., contest against VCU, before returning to the Longwood Athletics Complex to host Davidson Sunday, Sept. 11.

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