FARMVILLE, Va. – Twenty-five years later, Longwood head coach Todd Dyer is still winning soccer games.
 
Playing in front of a crowd of nearly 100 Longwood women's soccer alumni as part of the program's 25th anniversary celebration, Dyer's 25th edition of the Lancers rode a pair of goals from Kennedy Culbreath and Emilie Kupsov to a 2-0 victory over Big South foe Presbyterian Saturday afternoon at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
The alumni in attendance, ranging from members of the inaugural 1994 team to last season's Big South runner-up squad, saw the Lancers (3-5-3, 1-1-2 Big South) became only the third team this season to shut out high-scoring Presbyterian and improve their program's all-time record to 256-170-37 in the process.
 
"It's definitely a big deal," said sophomore Carrie Reaver of the VIP crowd. "It reminds you that you're not just out here playing for yourself or the sport. It shows the family, the history of this program. People who gave their blood, sweat and tears for the program. You just want to play for them and carry on the Longwood tradition."
 
The Lancers carried on that tradition by winning a heated, physical battle against the Blue Hose (5-4-0, 0-3-0 Big South) on the back of Culbreath's 51st-minute strike and Kupsov's follow-up that came 14 minutes later. Culbreath's goal was her first career game-winner and came on a loose ball off a corner kick from senior Kathryn Miller.
 
Kupsov followed with her third goal of the season, chasing down a perfectly placed through-pass from Kelly Almeida and threading the needle past Presbyterian keeper Megan Serrano to help secure the win and reset the Lancers' Big South course after the team endured back-to-back draws and a 2-1 loss to start conference play.
 
"It's a big deal getting the first win; it gets the ball rolling," Reaver said. "It wasn't our best soccer, and it wasn't our best game of the season, but we found our grit. It takes a lot of that to dig in and come out with a win when you're not playing at your best. Mentally that helps us see how to fight through when it's not our day."
 
The win was a lesson in toughness, as the Lancers and Blue Hose engaged in a heated, physical battle that featured multiple skirmishes, stoppages due to injury and a late yellow card, all in front of a raucous crowd led by Longwood's women's soccer alumni in attendance.
 
Longwood star defender Sydney Wallace, the reigning Big South Defensive Player of the Year, was an unfortunate casualty of one of those skirmishes, falling to the turf with an injury in the 67th minute and watching the rest of the game from the sidelines. That marked the first time since 2015 that Wallace left a game early, snapping a streak of 4,866 consecutive minutes played.
 
However, Wallace's fellow ironhorse dropped to fill in at center back and helped hold the Blue Hose without a shot on goal the rest of the way.
 
"Having Sydney go down was a pretty scary moment," Reaver said. "But everybody stepped up well, and we managed the game from there. Back in the first half too, our passes and shots weren't going our way, and we just weren't having a great soccer game. But I definitely think everybody stepped up and did what they needed to do to get the win."
 
Longwood goalkeeper Madison Van Dyke picked up the shutout with four saves, all of which came in the first half. That performance came against a Blue Hose team that entered the day ranked second in the Big South with 2.25 goals per game and had been shut out just twice in their first eight games.
 
With their first Big South win now in hand, Longwood will have a shot at starting a winning streak this Wednesday, Oct. 3, when new Big South foe Hampton comes to campus for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
 
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