WASHINGTON, D.C. – Immediately following Longwood's 1-0 loss to UNCG Friday evening, head coach Todd Dyer challenged his team to find a sense of urgency.
 
"You have to see red from the start. Not just the last five minutes," he said in the postgame huddle.
 
Consider the message received.
 
Two days after getting shut out on at home for the first time in nearly a year, Longwood (2-3-1) erupted for its highest-scoring road game of the season and put away Howard (1-4-0) on a game-winning header from Carrie Reaver in the closing minutes to take down the SWAC powerhouse Bison 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Greene Stadium.
 
"We knew we needed to work harder and play for each other more," said All-Big South first-team forward Emilie Kupsov, who scored and added an assist Sunday. "Today we really showed that. We worked for each other and attacked and pressured hard together. That's where a lot of our goals came from, just pure hard work."
 
Reaver's game-winner came off a corner kick from senior Kathryn Miller with less than three minutes left on the game clock and punctuated a back-and-forth affair that saw the Lancers jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first 25 minutes before Howard responded with three consecutive goals after halftime.
 
Longwood landed the final punch, though, connecting on the set piece corner kick with just 2:22 remaining to reclaim the lead for good and secure the Lancers' first road win of the season.
 
"We will never apologize for a win, but we sure did make that hard on ourselves," Dyer said. "After going up 3-0 on the road, we expect to do better with our game management. But give Howard credit for fighting back and making a game of it. In the end, we found a way to win, and that's all that matters."
 
The four goals matched Longwood's season high, which came in a 4-0 win against Richmond on August 19 but was the Lancers' last multi-goal game of the season until Sunday's win.
 
"We were connected a lot better up top today, and we worked really hard to achieve that," Kupsov said. "That's something we've lacked, not working hard individually but working hard together. Today we accomplished that, and it's not a coincidence that we got a win."
 
The resurgence of Longwood's offense came against a Howard team that has cemented itself as a perennial championship contender in the SWAC, winning two of the past four league titles since joining the conference in 2014. However, it was the Big South powerhouse Lancers – who finished as league runner-up in 2017 and were predicted to finish second again in the 2018 Big South Preseason Coaches Poll – that came out on top Sunday, but not without a battle from the home-field Bison.
 
Reaver's clutch game-winner put to rest a wild matchup laden with momentum swings, game-changing runs and a one-sided offensive flurry in which Longwood outshot Howard 26-6 and matched a season-high with 11 shots on goal. That effort produced Longwood's most potent start to a game this season, as the Lancer frontline trio of Sheyenne Stretz, Emilie Kupsov and Kennedy Culbreath all scored before the first 25 minutes ticked off the clock.
 
But despite the one-sided start and Longwood's season-high shot differential, Howard kept itself in the game and went into halftime with a spark of momentum thanks to Chloe Brown, who scored with just 26 seconds left in the first half.
 
That strike proved consequential in more ways than one, as the Bison rode that momentum and tied the game in the 77th minute after junior Hollie Cartwright scored back-to-back goals in an 11-minute span late in the game. Those two goals came on Howard's only shots of the second half, both of which resulted in solo strikes from Cartwright.
 
With their 3-0 lead erased, the Lancers reset and held Howard without a shot the rest of the way. It took three more tries at the net before Reaver and Miller connected on the corner kick that put Longwood back on top with just over two minutes to play.
 
"We came out and played really well in the first half, had a lot of energy and got some early goals. We really needed that, especially playing on the road," Reaver said. "Our biggest challenge was keeping that energy consistent in the second half, but we fought our way back and eventually got the win. Overall it was a good win."
 
The win sets the stage for Longwood's final non-conference game of the season, which will pit the Lancers against high-major juggernaut Wake Forest next Sunday, Sept. 9, at 6 p.m. in Winston-Salem, N.C. That will be the final test before the Lancers embark on their quest for a Big South Championship, which opens with a grudge match against a High Point team that edged the Lancers 1-0 in last year's Big South Championship game. That opener kicks off Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. on the Panthers' home field.

Inside the Box Score

• Since 2007, Longwood is 16-0 when scoring at least four goals in a game.
• Longwood held a 26-6 shot advantage against Howard, setting a season high for shots taken and a season low for shots allowed. Longwood put 11 of those 26 shots on goal, also matching a season high.
• Longwood's plus-20 shot differential was the team's largest since outshooting Charleston 26-1 in a 1-0 victory on Oct. 22, 2016.
• Four different Lancers scored, with Kennedy Culbreath, Emilie Kupsov and Sheyenne Stretz all scoring their first goals of the season.
• Six different Lancers registered a point with senior captains Kathryn Miller and Sydney Wallace both adding assists.
• Both Carrie Reaver and Sydney Wallace played every minute together for the sixth consecutive game. Neither has come off the field for a substitution this season. 

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