HAMPTON, Va. – Four days ago, missed opportunities doomed Longwood in a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss at Presbyterian.
Wednesday afternoon in the follow-up against Hampton, the Lancers (3-5-0, 1-1-0 Big South) made sure not to repeat the same mistake.
In their highest scoring game of the season, Longwood erupted for a season-high four goals and turned in its third shutout of the season to pick up a 4-0 bounceback Big South road win Wednesday afternoon at HU Soccer Complex.
Junior midfielder
Madison Lockamy scored the last two of those goals and joined team points leaders
Emilie Kupsov and
Kennedy Culbreath in the scoring column as the Lancers enjoyed their highest-scoring game since defeating Hampton 5-1 on Oct. 3, 2018, in their last meeting against the Pirates.
"This was our first time playing here, and it was definitely a challenge," said head coach
Todd Dyer. "The surface really slowed down our ball movement, and the right dimensions made it tough to play at times especially with Hampton being very physical and combative without the ball, and that's a credit to them. We scored some timely goals that allowed us to settle in and manage the game. First road win, first conference win, four goals and a shutout. We will take it."
Despite the road challenge, Longwood fired on all cylinders with
Taylor Alvey contributing a pair of assists and Kupsov adding another. The Lancers controlled possession throughout as well, outshooting the Pirates 12-4 overall and 8-3 on goal. That marked the second straight game the Lancers have held the opposition to single-digit shots following Saturday's performance against Presbyterian in which they outshot the Blue Hose 22-7.
However, unlike that overtime defeat in Clinton, Longwood got on the board early and kept the pressure on Wednesday at Hampton. Kupsov started the scoring early with her milestone 20th career goal just 4:51 into the game, and Culbreath followed added another at the 13:06 mark.
Kupsov's goal put her in elite company in the history of Longwood's program as only the fourth player in the Division I era to reach the 20-goal plateau, joining Amanda Spencer (26), Lindsay Ottavio (25) and
Kelsey Pardue (24) on that list. Meanwhile, Culbreath's strike was her career-high fourth of the year, tying her with Kupsov for the team lead.
On the defensive end, Longwood's backfield, led by 90-minute ironwoman
Carrie Reaver, locked down Hampton's offense to engineer the Lancers' third shutout of the season. Starting goalkeeper
Madison Van Dyke played the first 76 minutes and made three saves before yielding to sophomore
Jordan Horacek, who preserved the 4-0 lead without facing a shot on goal.
The win evens Longwood's record in the Big South and sets up the Lancers to get back over .500 in conference play this Saturday, Sept. 28, when Charleston Southern visits Farmville for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
#GoWood
