FARMVILLE, Va. – A first half goal from Henning Dirks in the 29th minute and a late tally from Grant Robinson in the 80th minute led visiting George Mason to a 2-0 win over the Longwood men's soccer team Saturday night at the Athletics Complex.
Longwood drops its sixth straight game, falling to 0-6-1 on the season, while George Mason improves to 5-2-1.
"This was one of the tougher losses to take to be honest," said Longwood head coach
Jon Atkinson. "I felt we had that game all the way through and we felt we had a good grasp of the game most of the way through. We felt that we deserved a better result."
Dirks, the Atlantic 10's leading goal scorer this season, scored his seventh of the season off a free kick from 30 yards out, on a play where the ball evaded Longwood's defense and found its way into the back of the net.
"We had a bright start, but unfortunately when you aren't scoring goals things can come back and haunt you," Atkinson said. "Tonight we saw a direct ball in that evades everybody and snuck into the far corner. That's what happens sometimes and you have to show a lot of character to bounce back."
Following the goal, Longwood took control of the pace of the game, outshooting the Patriots by a 10-6 margin. For the game, the Lancers took 14 shots, with
Denzel Speed,
Dan Campos,
Max Poelker,
Connor Rea and
Sammy Dupuy each recording a pair of shots.
The Patriots added a late goal, as Robinson scored his first strike of the season finishing a cross into the box from Ryan Mingachos.
In goal,
Lance Da Silva made five saves, two off his career-high of seven set earlier this season at Pitt. Tomas Lapnas made four saves on 14 Longwood shots, to record his first clean sheet of the season.
Longwood returns to action Tuesday, Sept. 26, as the Lancers head to Virginia Tech. First touch for that game in Blacksburg, Va., is set for 7 p.m., with the game to be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN app.
"That game against Virginia Tech will provide a good challenge for our guys," Atkinson said. "We're going to use that game to keep building before we head into conference play. Our boys like the challenge of playing a top team. We're still committed. We have some fantastic character in the locker room and they're hurting right now."
#GoWood
