FARMVILLE, Va. – VCU's last regular season loss was nearly 11 months ago. Sunday night, that streak continued at Longwood's expense.
 
The reigning Atlantic 10 runner-up Rams (2-0-0)  asserted themselves early with four first-half goals and cruised past the Lancers 5-1 in Longwood's season-opener Sunday evening at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
In a streak that dates back to Oct. 7, 2018, the win was the seventh consecutive regular-season victory for VCU and came against a Longwood (0-1-0) team that entered the 2019 season as the Big South's preseason No. 3 team. It was the Lancers' first home-opening loss since 2016 and came after their first shot at an A-10 team this season, at Richmond this past Thursday, was canceled at halftime due to weather with Longwood leading 2-1.
 
Halftime presented a different challenge for Longwood Sunday, however, as VCU took the lead less than five minutes into the game and bookended that opening flurry with three goals in the period's final 15 minutes. Susanna Friedrichs drilled in the first of those just 4:18 into the game, and Alyssa Tallent (29:15), Idelys Vazquez (43:00) and Emily Charen (44:11) punched in three more before the break.
 
"It goes without saying, but that first half was simply not up to our standard in terms of effort and passion for the game," head coach Todd Dyer said. "Give VCU all the credit in the world because they dictated and were superior in every facet of the game, including the preparation by the coaching staff."
 
VCU, which entered the season as the A-10's preseason No. 2 in the league coaches poll, got goals from five different players, including two from  Vazquez and another from  All-A10 first-team selection  Tallent. Tallent's 30th-minute strike stood as the game-winner and sparked a late first-half flurry that saw the Rams score three times in the final 15 minutes before halftime.
 
Longwood turned a corner after the break and cut VCU's shots on goal nearly in half, surrendering just one goal on the Rams' six on-target attempts. Longwood junior Kennedy Culbreath punched in a goal of of her own, sprinting to her own rebound on a shot that hit the crossbar and punching it past VCU keeper Brecht Haakma to put the Lancers on the board in the 56th minute.
 
That goal was the first of the season for Culbreath, who scored three as a sophomore in 2018 but needed six games to get her first one. Her season-opening strike Sunday was the byproduct of a team-wide turnaround that saw Longwood allow VCU just one goal after halftime, which came on a second-chance shot from Vazquez after Longwood junior goalkeeper Madison Van Dyke made a leaping save on a corner-kick header.
 
"At least we showed up in the second half and started to put up a fight," Dyer said. "The goal we scored is something we can build on, but we also need to address a lot of areas that were exposed tonight."
 
The Rams' high-volume approach produced 29 total shot attempts, 18 of which were on goal. Samantha Jerabek uncorked five of those, while Longwood freshman goalkeeper Mary Kate Levush made seven saves in her collegiate debut and Van Dyke stepped in during the second half to rack up five more.
 
Longwood, meanwhile, managed to get off just four shot attempts, their fewest since creating just four shots in a road loss to ACC powerhouse Wake Forest in 2018. It was the program's fewest shots in a home game since another ACC power, Virginia Tech, came to Farmville in 2014 and held that Lancer team to just four as well.
 
The loss to VCU came in an unplanned season-opener after Longwood's originally scheduled debut against Richmond this past Thursday was canceled after one half due to lightning and rain. The Lancers' season-opening gauntlet will continue this week as Longwood hosts Conference USA contender Charlotte this Friday, Aug. 30, welcomes reigning SWAC champion Howard the following Monday and then heads to Old Dominion on Thursday.
 
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