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FARMVILLE, Va. – UNCW forward Emil Elveroth scored a first half goal and Ben Davidson added a late strike to lead the 13th-ranked Seahawks past a strong defensive performance from the Longwood men's soccer team 2-0 Monday night at the Athletics Complex.
The Lancers (1-2-0) gave a high-flying UNCW (4-0-0) team all it could handle with a strong goalkeeping effort from Longwood sophomore
Jacob Reimers. The performance saw the Lancers go toe-to-toe with a UNCW team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago and was tabbed as the Colonial Athletic Association runner-up by the league's coaches.
"Wilmington is a caliber program and they showed that again tonight," said Longwood head coach
Jon Atkinson. "For us to compete with a team like that for 90 minutes is a very credible performance from our guys. They stuck to the game plan well and limited Wilmington in certain areas of the field."
The win for the Seahawks extend their win streak to four games with goalkeeper Ryan Cretens picking up his fourth consecutive shutout, as the UNCW backline has yet to concede a goal four games into the 2018 season.
Meanwhile, Longwood's defense more than held their own with Reimers picking up a career-high four saves behind a four-man backline that featured 90 minutes from the freshmen center back pair of
Shane Curtis and
Jonas Kalchner, along with a strong game off the bench from Aj Kmeic, senior
Denzel Speed and sophomore
Chase Quinn. Together, that group was able to turn away 20 UNCW shots.
"We worked on the mentality of the back line and the ability to drop into shape," Atkinson said. "These guys are young, they're still learning each other's names and learning how to play together. The improvement from UNCG to UNCW was a big one for them and that was important to see."
Elveroth opened the scoring for the Seahawks in the 11th minute with his second strike of the season, scoring off a set piece delivery from David Lozano from the right side of the box, 25 yards from goal.
With Longwood pressing for a late equalizer, the Seahawks were able to take full advantage with Davidson finding a lane for a right-footed shot in the 81st minute.
Longwood will close out its three-game home stand, welcoming Robert Morris to the Athletics Complex Saturday, Sept. 8. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
"Individually and collectively we improved as a team tonight and it was challenged by a good team," Atkinson said. "Our biggest challenge now is to bring that energy and commitment level against any team that we play against."
#GoWood
