WASHINGTON – American goalkeeper Amy Krotine turned in the best performance of her young career, registering eight saves to lead the Eagles to a 1-0 win over the Lancers Thursday afternoon at Reeves Field.
 
Playing their fourth consecutive road game, the Lancers (1-5-0) hammered a season-high eight shots at the American freshman, but Krotine batted away every one to register her first career shutout. The performance derailed a relentless Lancer attack that outshot the Eagles 12-5 and helped American (1-6-0) snap its two-game losing streak in the series.
 
In just her second career start – the first coming four days prior in a 3-0 loss to Tennessee – Krotine blanked a Longwood team that had scored in three consecutive games and was just two games removed from upsetting reigning Atlantic 10 champion Duquesne on Sept. 2. Her eight-save night neutralized the barrage of Lancer attempts, five of which came in the final 20 minutes of the game. Longwood put three of those on goal, including a set piece off a corner kick in the 76th minute, but Krotine was there to preserve American's first shutout of the season.
 
"I'm proud of the way our team fought to the very end," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer. "We certainly had multiple chances to win the game, but another soft goal early put us in a hole and we were simply chasing the game from that point on."
 
Krotine's career night backed the go-ahead goal from junior midfielder Kira Flaherty, who tapped in her first career goal just 8:05 into the game. That would be the only blemish on Longwood junior goalkeeper Maria Kirby's three-save night, but it was all the cushion Krotine and her defensive backfield would need.

Kirby and her defensive backfield trio of Big South All-Freshman Team selection Sydney Wallace, Jessica O'Bryant and Jayden Metzger kept the Eagles off the board the rest of the way, but American returned the favor to keep the shutout intact. Both O'Bryant and Wallace played the full 90 minutes, while Metzger stepped off the field for just four minutes, but their presence did little to offset Krotine's career performance.
 
The 1-0 loss is Longwood's third one-goal defeat of the season and concludes a nearly two-week stretch of road games in the Northeast. After opening the season scoreless on their first 18 shots of the year, the Lancers finally broke through with a combined four goals in the first three games of that span before Krotine's wall-like performance snapped that streak.
 
"It's a simple formula for us if we want to start earning positive results," Dyer said. "We just need to execute, and we need to start doing it before conference play begins."
 
That Big South opener inches closer every week, as Longwood has just three non-conference games remaining before league play opens up on Sept. 24 against Gardner-Webb. Before the Lancers begin pursuit of their fourth Big South Championship Tournament appearance in five years as a member of the league, however, they will have to take on UMBC this Saturday at 3 p.m. in their first home game since Aug. 26.
 
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