Longwood University Athletics

FARMVILLE, Va. – For six seconds during Longwood men's soccer's 1-0 win against VMI Tuesday night, senior midfielder Leif VanSlyke was untouchable.
 
After landing at No. 3 on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 Plays countdown later that night, the shelf life of his fleet-footed goal has extended well into the next day.
 
VanSlyke became Longwood's first #SCTop10 honoree of the 2021-22 season and the first Longwood men's soccer player to appear on the list. The play that drew ESPN's spotlight came midway through the second half of Tuesday night's game and saw VanSlyke single-handedly beat five defenders and the KeyDet goalkeeper for the go-ahead goal.


 
VanSlyke's fancy footwork came in a tight space just in front of VMI's goal and saw him outrun one defender, juke three others in the box, and then shoot a right-footed laser between one last defender and the goalkeeper into the opposite corner of the net. The goal stood as the game-winner, which was VanSlyke's first, and propelled the Lancers to their first win of the season.
 
A native of Fredericksburg, Va., and a three-year starter, VanSlyke is the 13th Lancer to appear on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 since Longwood joined the Big South in 2012-13. The most recent of those were men's basketaball player DeShaun Wade and women's basketball players Kyla McMakin and Tra'Dayja Smith, who came in at Nos. 1, 3 and 5, respectively, this past January. Other Lancers to make ESPN's nightly countdown include Madison Blair (softball), Kaylynn 'Bug' Batten (softball), Tristan Carey (men's basketball), Emilie Kupsov (women's soccer), Krista Kelly (softball) Emily Murphy (softball), Janese Quick (women's soccer), JaShaun Smith (men's basketball), Jessica Smith (softball) and Lucas Woodhouse (men's basketball).
 
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