FARMVILLE, Va. – It's not about how you start, it's how you finish.
 
After a second straight one-goal win Wednesday that continued an end-of-season push up the Big South standings, Longwood lacrosse is personifying that mantra.
 
In a must-win Big South showdown at Gardner-Webb (5-9, 0-4 Big South), Longwood shook off a slow start and dominated the second half to erase a seven-goal deficit and pull out a 13-12 comeback victory over the Runnin' Bulldogs at Spangler Stadium.
 
The win was the Lancers' second straight and continued a late-season turnaround that has seen them win three of their past four games to climb into the top four in the Big South standings. Now with just three games remaining, Longwood (5-8, 2-1 Big South) has occupies third place in the league and is in the driver's seat to secure one of the four spots in the 2019 Big South Championship tournament.
 
The Lancers inched closer to their postseason goal behind a drastic bounceback performance Wednesday, during which they overcame a 10-3 deficit and ended the game on an 8-1 run. Reigning Big South Freshman of the Week Taylor Blenckstone punctuated that game-changing rally with 2:36 remaining when she received a pass from Dana Joss off a free-position chance and beat Gardner-Webb goalkeeper Katie Sylvester to net the game-winner.
 
"Going into this game, we knew we would need to fight hard to win," said Joss, whose game-winning assist was part of a stat sheet-stuffing effort that also included two goals, seven draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover.
 
"At halftime, our coaches challenged us to go out on the field and cut their lead, as well as keep them from scoring. Dani[elle Burke] and the rest of the defense did an amazing job at holding them to only two goals in the second half. The comeback was a team effort – everyone worked hard on the draw, and on both offense and defense. Now we're excited to get back to practice and work towards another Big South win this Saturday."
 
Blenckstone's crunch-time goal capped a game-changing 8-1 run that saw the Lancers erase an 11-5 deficit over the final 26 minutes of the game. Junior Kaitlin Luccarelli, coming off a seven-goal performance in last Saturday's 16-15 win over Big South rival Radford, set the stage for Blenckstone's game-winner with her back-to-back free-position strikes in the final 10 minutes that tied the game at 12-12.
 
That end-game run also featured a defensive stronghold spearheaded by the freshman goalkeeper Burke, who registered six of her 13 saves after halftime. Her defense stepped up to hold Gardner-Webb to just one shot on goal over the game's final 20 minutes, which came on a free-position attempt by Tori Birks with 1:06 to play, but Burke stepped up to knock it away and preserve the victory.
 
"This was an exciting team win," head coach Elaine Jones said. "We were a bit sluggish to start the game and didn't really hit our stride until close to the end of the first half. I thought we came out with great energy in the second half both on the field and on the sideline, which really gave us the lift we needed. Dani was stellar in the second half, and different attackers stepped up big in eventually propelling to the winning goal."
 
Luccarelli led Longwood with five goals and assumed the top spot on the Big South's goals-per-game leaderboard. The junior attacker has now netted 41 goals – two shy of her career high – in just 13 games, pushing her conference-leading average to 3.15 per game. Blenckstone, Joss and Lexi Davis also added two goals apiece, while freshman Nicole Fordyce helped on two goals during that 8-1 run, including the pass on fellow freshman Averee Gerold's first career goal.
 
Now the Lancers enter a crucial stretch of Big South play with a pair of upcoming home games against unbeaten Winthrop Saturday and preseason No. 2 Campbell the following Wednesday. The season finale will then take place at Presbyterian on April 20, after which a top-four spot in the final Big South standings will earn the Lancers a trip to the Big South Championship semifinals on April 26.
 
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