ASHEVILLE, N.C. – With the regular season winding down, Longwood women's soccer is still finding out how good it can be.
Now on a six-game unbeaten streak, the second-place Lancers scored their fastest goal in more than a decade and rode two goals from sophomore
Emilie Kupsov to a 3-1 win over UNC Asheville (6-8-1, 2-4-0 Big South) Saturday afternoon at Greenwood Field.
The win keeps Longwood (10-4-2, 5-1-1 Big South) within three points – one win – of first-place Liberty (8-5-3, 6-0-1 Big South) and sets up a high-stakes showdown this Wednesday, Oct. 17, when the Lancers host the Flames at home on Senior Day at 7 p.m.
Winners of five of their past six games, the Lancers carry plenty of momentum into that upcoming top-tier showdown, having shut out four of their past six opponents during a stretch in which they are 5-0-1, all against Big South competition.
Kupsov provided the most recent highlights from that tear on Saturday, scoring just 27 seconds into the game and again just 18 seconds before the final whistle en route to her first career two-goal game. Her go-ahead score in the first minute broke Longwood's Division I speed-scoring record of 61 seconds, set more than seven years ago by all-time great Lindsay Ottavio in a 4-0 win against Mount St. Mary's on Sept. 10, 2010.
The goal was also Kupsov's second this season just 27 second after the start of a half, echoing her second-half strike 45:27 into the 2-2 draw against Campbell on Oct. 4.
"This group is amazing and continues to find a way to grind out results, especially on the road," said head coach
Todd Dyer, who recorded his 250th career win – all at Longwood – Saturday.
"It was a pretty even game over 90 minutes, and Asheville made us work for everything. We made some tactical adjustments at the half, and the players did a great job applying them in the field in the second half. Some timely goals by Kup and [Madison] Lockamy eventually earned the result we needed."
Kupsov's opening strike came on a long cross from senior
Teresa Fruchterman and set the pace for Longwood's highest-scoring game this season. Lockamy scored her first career goal in the 72nd minute, heading in a well-placed cross from freshman classmate
Kennedy Culbreath, and Kupsov followed with a fleet-footed breakaway goal in the final minute of the game to drive in the final nail.
"We didn't play as well as we would've liked in the first half, but we got an early goal and finished it off in the second half to get a win," said Kupsov, who leads Longwood and ranks among the Big South's top 10 with five goals, four assists and 14 points this season. "Plus we had some extra motivation to give our trainer, Morgan [Langton], a nice present on her birthday."
Longwood's three scores were plenty enough to back a five-save win from senior goalkeeper
Maria Kirby, who kept the Bulldogs in check, outside of a free kick goal by Caroline Houser in the 86th minute. The win was the 27th of Kirby's career, tying her with Marcia Biddle for Longwood's all-time Division I record.
With at least a share of that Division I wins record, Kirby now occupies the top spot on Longwood's D-I lists in wins, saves (243), shutouts (24), save percentage (.835) and goalkeeper minutes (5,020), as well as second place in goals against average (0.86). She also resides within the top five on Longwood's all-time charts in each of those six categories.
Now in pursuit of the first Big South Regular Season Championship in program history, Longwood has two games remaining to catch first-place Liberty. The first of those comes against the Flames themselves this Wednesday, Oct. 17, prior to the regular season finale on the road against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Oct. 21.
A top-four spot in the standings, which Longwood is still fighting for alongside the Flames, Campbell (8-5-1, 4-1-1 Big South) and High Point (7-7-1, 4-1-1 Big South), would guarantee the Lancers hosting duties for the quarterfinal round of the 2017 Big South Championship on Oct. 28.
#GoWood
