NORFOLK, Va. – In the face of an approaching hurricane, Longwood and Old Dominion created a storm of their own.
 
In a confrontation between two equal and opposing forces, it took a free kick game-winner from Old Dominion midfielder Allie Brimmer to break a double-overtime stalemate and send the Monarchs (3-0-1) to a 2-1 win over the visiting Lancers Thursday afternoon at ODU Sports Complex.
 
Just hours before storm bands from Hurricane Dorian arrived in Norfolk, Longwood (1-3-0) and Old Dominion took part in a whirlwind clash that featured a defensive stronghold on both ends and two momentum-swinging second-half goals. Monarchs forward Amanda Nhek and Lancer sophomore Sydni Greaves traded those goals, while Longwood keeper Madison Van Dyke and her Monarchs counterpart Kasey Perry withstood their respective onslaughts with a combined 14 saves.
 
However, that storm peaked with just over two minutes remaining before the final buzzer in double overtime when Brimmer took advantage of a Longwood penalty 30 yards out and bent her free kick just inside the far post past the outstretched hand of a diving Van Dyke.
 
"That was a heartbreaker," said Todd Dyer, whose matchup with Old Dominion was only the second of his 26-year tenure as head coach and founder of the Longwood program. "But we made a game of it and will walk out of here with our heads held high. To fight back from a goal down and take a team like that to the brink of double-overtime says a lot about the character of this team.
 
The win kept Old Dominion's unbeaten record intact a 3-0-1 and extended the Monarchs' home regular-season win streak to five consecutive victories dating back to the 2018 season.
 
For the Lancers, it snapped a four-game unbeaten streak in overtime and was only the program's second OT loss in 11 such games since the start of the 2017 season.
 
Brimmer's game-winning strike overcame another heroic performance in goal from Van Dyke, who stopped nine of the 11 shots she faced just six days after she broke Longwood's Division I single-game record with 13 saves against Charlotte. She made five of those stops in succession Thursday afternoon after Nhek's go-ahead goal in the 65th minute, but Brimmer broke that streak with her right-footed blast in the second overtime.
 
"We can still play better, but the commitment of this group is absolute and unquestionable," Dyer added.
 
Along with Van Dyke's performance, Brimmer's golden goal also overcame the first career score from Greaves, who tied the game at 1-1 in the 79th minute. That strike punctuated a free kick sequence that saw sophomore Kylie Cahill redirect the entry pass into the box where Greaves fought off three Old Dominion defenders for it and punched it past Perry.
 
The loss came just hours before the expected arrival of Hurricane Dorian, which prompted the game to be moved up from a 7 p.m. kickoff to 2 p.m. Dorian has also preemptively washed out Longwood's next scheduled game at Coastal Carolina this Sunday, Sept. 8. Next for the Lancers, as currently scheduled, is a return home for a two-game homestand against American on Friday, Sept. 13, and against UMBC the following Sunday.
 
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