FARMVILLE, Va. – Two deflections wound up deciding an overtime contest between Longwood and Presbyterian on Saturday afternoon.
 
Presbyterian (3-8 overall, 1-0 Big South) sent Longwood (4-5 overall, 0-2 Big South) to its fourth one-goal loss of the season when Riccardo Turcis volleyed home a deflected cross into the top shelf in the 96^th minute for the 2-1 winner.
 
Meanwhile for Longwood, Mikel Abando's breakaway attempt nipped the fingertips of Presbyterian goalkeeper Valentin Kliebe before kissing the inside of the right post and sitting on the goal line in the 68^th minute instead of breaking a 1-1 tie. The Blue Hose defense rushed in and cleared the attempt to stave off Longwood and deny the senior his second multi-goal game of the season.
 
"I thought we had the cleaner chance there with Mikel going through, and he got a good chance with the post," said head coach Jon Atkinson. "But that's football sometimes. It doesn't go our way and by the width of the post, you don't get the lead. And then something like that comes and haunts you in the end."
 
Early on, Longwood controlled the game's flow but couldn't break through in the final third. Finally, Abando found a sliver of space and slipped through a seam up the middle of the Blue Hose defense and polished off a perfectly weighted pass from standout freshman Eli Carr on Longwood's first shot of the afternoon. The senior's team-leading sixth goal of the season moved him into second in the Big South.
 
The Blue Hose evened it up with their first shot on goal in the 38^th minute off a rocket from Sergio Pinto. He tucked a tight-angle shot under the crossbar on the far post off a feed from Luca Ziegler to make it 1-1.
 
"Today was a tight game," Atkinson said. "Could have gone either way, and unfortunately for us it didn't go our way. We let them get back in it, and you've got to give credit to PC. They never sat down and kept themselves in the mix and took their chances."
 
The final 45 minutes of regulation and first five minutes of overtime featured more opportunities for both sides. Presbyterian outshot Longwood 9-5 over that stretch, but Longwood racked up six corner kicks.
 
"It's the small details," said Atkinson. "Which is a good thing. It's good that its small, the smaller details, not major overhauls, and the guys know where they stand with that. It's just a case of applying themselves every day in practice to try to minimize their moments that may come back and haunt you in games."
 
"I think we need a little decompression to lick our wounds but then get back at it. Our guys know they've got more to give in complete performances. We'll be sorry to see the result at the end of the day, but hopefully this will spur the boys on to make amends for an opportunity that they lost."
 
The Lancers are on the road for a pair of matches next week, beginning with a non-conference tilt at Wofford on Tuesday, October 8. They close the week with a Big South test at USC Upstate on Saturday, October 12 before returning home to host Winthrop on Tuesday, October 15.
 
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