LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty's Rigo Rojas tallied his first goal of the season in the 73rd minute to lift Liberty to a 2-1 victory over the Longwood men's soccer team Tuesday night at Osborne Stadium.

Rojas' strike from close range off a give-and-go in the box in the 73rd minute with Kevin Mendoza gave the Flames the advantage after Longwood had momentum with control in possession following a late first half strike off the foot from Max Poelker.

Following the Rojas goal, Longwood pressured for a second equalizer but was unable to convert. The best chance came off a Dan Campos free kick from 20 yards out.

"We're a bounce, kick or deflection away from turning the season around," said Longwood head coach Jon Atkinson. "Even though our results don't suggest it, we're a good team that's just not getting results. It's only a matter of time before this changes."

With the win, Liberty moves to 6-3-1 and into second-place in the Big South standings at 2-1-0, while Longwood falls to 0-9-1 and 0-2-0 in conference play.

Poelker, a sophomore from Yorktown, Va., scored his first goal of the season in the 43rd minute, coming off a feed from Josh Hanratty. Coming off a dynamic freshman campaign in which he tallied a team-best seven goals en route to being named Big South Honorable Mention, Poelker turned and rifled a right footed shot past Liberty goalkeeper James Knoebel into the upper right corner of the goal.

"Max scored a cracking goal tonight and had a good game overall," Atkinson said. "This will boost not only his but our team's morale that we have goals in us and now we need to refine the connectivity in front of goal."

Poelker's goal came after Mendoza gave the Flames an early 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game, as Mendoza and Rojas each enjoyed a three-point night for Liberty.

Following the Liberty goal, Longwood took control of the game's next 10 minutes with a pair of quality chances that were unable to be converted.

"Take nothing away from Liberty – they're a good team with quality players – but we had more than our fair share of possession and chances to reverse the score line. I'd have to put it down to the need for more belief in and around the final third to translation into results."

Coming off a career-high eight-save performance against Winthrop, Lance Da Silva made three saves for the Lancers, while Knoebel answered with four saves for Liberty.

"No time to feel sorry for ourselves," Atkinson said. "We just have to take it in the chin and move on to prepare for Presbyterian."

Longwood will have five days to prepare for the Blue Hose, as the Lancers return to the Athletics Complex Saturday, Oct. 7. First touch is set for 3 p.m.

#GoWood