CLINTON, S.C. – For as thrilling of a narrative Longwood lacrosse has weaved in 2019, ending the regular season with one exclamation point just wasn't enough. Neither were two, or three for that matter.
 
Punctuating a bounceback second half of the season, Longwood (8-8, 5-1 Big South) cruised to a dominant 22-9 win over Presbyterian Saturday at Old Bailey Stadium to secure a second-place Big South finish that is the program's best in seven years as a member of the league.
 
The win was Longwood's fifth straight, tying the team's longest streak in more than a decade.
 
The 22 goals and 12 assists were season highs. Kaitlin Luccarelli scored a career-high eight of those, and Emma Johnson added a career-high seven.
 
The list goes on, as will Longwood's season.
 
In the latest win in a 2019 campaign marked by a drastic turnaround from one of the youngest teams in the conference, the Lancers fired on all cylinders in their regular-season finale and rode a combined 17 goals from Luccarelli and Johnson to cruise to another Big South win in a season full of them. Longwood dominated end-to-end against the Blue Hose (1-16, 0-6 Big South), allowing a season-low 14 shots and capping the game on a 9-0 run.
 
Now for the first time in seven years as a member of the Big South, seventh-year head coach Elaine Jones' Lancers will enter the upcoming Big South Championship tournament as the No. 2 seed with a Friday semifinal matchup against a No. 3 Winthrop team they routed 14-4 just one week ago.

"Overall I'm proud of our team's effort, mental toughness and commitment that has paved the way for us to finish second in the Big South," said Jones, who picked up her 150th career win earlier this season. "We're excited to head to the Big South Tournament as the No. 2 seed and happy that we we earned another week to practice together."
 
Longwood has now won six of its past seven games, completing a remarkable bounceback that saw the Lancers open the year 2-7 against a challenging non-conference schedule that included four teams from the Atlantic 10. However, Longwood began an abrupt about-face in Big South play and will now enter the Big South postseason on the strength of a five-game win streak that includes victories over every Big South team except regular-season champion High Point.
 
During that tear, Longwood has won in blowouts and barn burners, taking three of those games by three goals or fewer and two others, including Saturday's 13-goal victory, by double digits. Saturday's victory over Presbyterian was the latter and marked the team's largest margin of victory since a 21-7 win over Gardner-Webb in the 2017 regular-season finale.  

"I'm really pleased with our win today," Jones said. "It was Presbyterian's senior day, so they came out with a lot of energy. It took us a little to get going, but once we did, our defense came up with multiple stops and our offense had a lot of nice combinations. I also thought we did very well on the draw, which was something we didn't do a good job with in our last game."
 
Along with Luccarelli's eight goals and Johnson's seven, Lexi Davis and freshman Nicole Fordyce scored two apiece, and Davis and do-it-all midfielder Dana Joss combined for 10 assists. Captain Jordan and fellow juniors Corri Calandra and Olivia Zubillaga anchored the defense, limiting the Blue Hose to just 14 shots on goal to front freshman goalkeeper Danielle Burke's eighth win of the season.
 
"Although we had a slow start, we were able to overcome the weather and other uncontrollable factors to string together a nice series of possessions," said Howard, who moved into second place in the conference in draw controls per game. "Once we got rolling and found the right tempo, we connected all over the field. Dana and Nikki [Fordyce] did a really nice job on the draw today, and we were able to get a lot of possessions off of them."
 
The only thing Longwood dominated more than the final score was the draw control battle, as the junior duo of Howard and Joss combined to corral 19 to help the Lancers win that possession battle 23-9. Longwood won 12 of 16 in the second half, held the Blue Hose to just nine draws overall and turned those faceoff wins into 13 first-possession goals.
 
Now with an offense spearheaded by the Big South's leading goal-scorer in Luccarelli, two of the league's top five draw specialists in Howard and Joss, and a defense that has surrendered the third-fewest goals in Big South play, Longwood will begin its postseason journey this Friday at 7 p.m. against Winthrop on the home field of No. 1 seed High Point. A win would propel Longwood to the Big South Championship game against the winner of High Point and No. 4 seed Campbell on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN3.
 
"We know we have a little under a week to prepare for the Big South Conference tournament on Friday, and our plan is to fix the small things and focus on our strengths," Howard said. "I am so proud of each member of my team and how everyone has performed and helped us prepare this season. The coaches have done a phenomenal job preparing us and giving us the tools to do our job. We're excited to keep moving forward."
 
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