Longwood University Athletics

FARMVILLE, Va. -- It was only fitting that as the program enters its 25th year of existence, Longwood women's soccer earned the honor of formally kicking off the 2017-18 Longwood athletics season.

In the first Lancer athletics contest of the year, the reigning Big South women's soccer runner-up Lancers took the field against Commonwealth rival VMI in a preseason scrimmage Monday night at the Longwood Athletics Complex. Led by program founder and reigning Big South Coach of the Year Todd Dyer, the Lancers battled the Keydets in a 90-minute exhibition that saw Longwood empty its bench and deploy 24 of the 27 players on its roster.

"That's exactly what we needed at this point in our preseason," head coach Todd Dyer said. "We learned a lot about ourselves tonight, and it gives us plenty of motivation to focus on the areas where we need to improve. The purpose of these preseason games is to get on the field and play against someone other than yourselves and find your weak points, and we did exactly that tonight."

The game came just six days into Longwood's preseason camp and will be the first of two exhibitions for the Lancers. The second of those is slated for this Friday, Aug. 10, when Old Dominion comes to Farmville for a 7 p.m. matchup.

Following the exhibition, the Lancers will get a week to prepare for the 2018 season opener at Charlotte on Friday, Aug. 17.

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