SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Longwood men's soccer earned a hard-fought road point on Saturday afternoon in their first conference road test of the fall. The Lancers went the distance at USC Upstate, ultimately tying 1-1 after 110 minutes of tough, gritty soccer as they dive into the heart of conference play.
 
The draw keeps Longwood (2-5-2, 1-0-1 Big South) unbeaten early in the conference season. Experience helped lead the way forward for Longwood, as seniors Markus Gronli and Leif VanSlyke connected for a corner kick goal. Graduate student goalkeeper Jacob Reimers patrolled the goal line and made eight saves, a season-high, against a USC Upstate (2-5-2, 0-1-1) team that was picked to finish third in the Big South preseason poll.
 
"I feel both teams will begrudgingly concede that a point wasn't the worst at the end of the day," said Longwood head coach Jon Atkinson. "It keeps us unbeaten in Big South competition, and to play to two overtimes on the road shows a bunch of character."
 
The Lancers were the aggressors in a fast-paced match, with Longwood posting the first shots in each half as well as overtime and outshooting USC Upstate 24-19. The Lancers put 11 shots on target and hit the post once while USC Upstate had nine shots on goal.
 
Gronli and VanSlyke's goal paid off that strong start that saw Longwood post the first four shots of the match and eight of the first 10. The duo put Longwood ahead in the 18^th minute on a corner kick when Gronli served a ball straight to VanSlyke's head, and VanSlyke nodded it home for his second goal of the fall. For Gronli, it was his team-leading third assist of the season and third straight match with a point.
 
"I feel you could say we were unfortunate not coming away with more, considering the quality of chances that fell to us," Atkinson said. "However, USC Upstate had moments too that could have soured the trip.
 
USC Upstate battled back and capitalized on a chance in the latter stages of the first half. Javier Torres took a feed from Fabian Dietrich and slotted it to the left post to equalize the score. Spartan goalkeeper Luca Bulfon stood up tall in goal as well, saving a career-high 10 of the 11 shots on goal he faced.
 
The two sides traded chances from that point on, but each failed to find the back of the net by the slimmest of margins. Longwood outshot Upstate 5-2 in the first overtime period with Gronli firing three of his team-high eight shots in that 10 minute segment. Justin Wilson had Longwood's best chance in the two extra time periods, rifling a shot off the right post as part of a day that saw him rip seven shots.
 
"What I would like our lads to do is focus more on controlling our destiny, as it was a fast transitional game due in large part to our not taking care of the ball as cleanly in the final third, and that takes juice out of the legs during these games," Atkinson said. "We will recover accordingly and prep for our midweek game against Winthrop with some more belief in our bellies."
 
The Lancers are back in action with a pair of home contests against conference foes next week, hosting Winthrop (Wednesday, Oct. 6) and High Point (Saturday, Oct. 9). Wednesday's match begins at 7:30 p.m. while Saturday's match kicks off at 7 p.m., and both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
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