FARMVILLE, Va. – Big South newcomer USC Upstate rallied from a goal down on two occasions, as the Longwood men's soccer team played to a 2-2 tie Tuesday night at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
Josh Hanratty scored a pair of penalty kick goals for the Lancers, marking his third and fourth goals of the season, as he played 102 minutes from his midfield position. Hanratty's two-goal performance was equaled by his midfield counterpart Cam Philpot, who scored on two of his three shots.
With the draw, Longwood (4-9-1, 2-2-1 Big South) has picked up points in two consecutive games to move within two points of a top-four position in the league standings with four conference games remaining. In the first conference meeting between the two teams, USC Upstate (3-8-1, 3-3-1 Big South) moves into second-place in the conference.
"The biggest positive that we can take away from tonight was that we didn't lose," said Longwood head coach
Jon Atkinson. "We lost the opportunity to keep the momentum and that positive swing.
"The game was punctuated with far too many fouls that prohibited any true flow and we just have to do a better job of overcoming certain challenges and control our outcome."
Hanratty scored the game's opening goal less than three minutes in, converting a penalty kick that was awarded from a hand ball in the box. That goal marked his third of the season and handed the Lancers an early 1-0 advantage.
Philpot beat Longwood goalkeeper
Jacob Reimers on a 1-on-1 in the 31st minute to equal the score at 1-1 prior to halftime.
Hanratty and Philpot went toe-for-toe again in the second half, with Hanratty converting his second penalty of the night less than three minutes into the second half. Philpot scored the game-tying goal in the 81st minute, heading a cross from Alexandre Castaing.
"We talked about their keeper being solid and other things have to be executed cleanly," Atkinson said. "Fair play to Ratty [Hanratty] who kept his composure twice to put us in the driver seat. Unfortunately, our quality in the final third was lacking to take the game away from USC Upstate."
With USC Upstate playing a man down for the final 27 minutes, Longwood controlled possession in the overtime period and outshot the Spartans by a 6-1 margin.
Josh Fordyce had the best opportunity in the overtime period, as he was able to get a head on a
Jeremy Jaquier corner kick but it sailed just wide of goal.
In goal, Reimers made four saves on 15 total shots, as he was aided by the backline of
Dan Ahrens,
Jonas Kalchner,
Ryan Fleming and
Sherif Maalouf. Andrea Bonavia made five saves on 19 Longwood shots for USC Upstate.
"While it's not the result we truly wanted, we have to accept it and move on looking for a result this Saturday with the dedication and commitment to a more complete performance," Atkinson said.
After concluding a stretch of three straight games at home, Longwood will have that opportunity on the road with three consecutive games on the road with that stretch beginning Saturday, Oct. 20 at Presbyterian. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
#GoWood
