FARMVILLE, Va. – As to the question of which wins out when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force, Longwood and Radford spent Thursday night trying to find an answer.
 
Two overtimes and 110 minutes later, they're still looking.
 
In a Big South showdown between the nation's No. 4 scoring team and one of the conference's stingiest defenses, Radford (6-1-1, 0-0-1 Big South) and Longwood (1-5-4, 0-0-2) battled to a 2-2 double-overtime draw in a physical, back-and-forth matchup at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
Renewing a rivalry that remains in nearly perfect balance at 10-8-2 in favor of the Highlanders, this year's edition brought Radford's Big South-leading offense to Farmville to take on a Longwood backfield that had registered three shutouts in its past four games. Radford entered the game with an attack that has generated 27 goals in just seven games, including a 7-0 win against Wofford and an 8-1 win against Delaware State, while the Lancers came in with the Big South's hottest defense in September and a 1.33 goals against average.
 
Both units made their mark, with the Lancers becoming only the second team this season to escape the Highlanders without a defeat, and Radford only the second in Longwood's past seven games to score multiple goals. The draw is only the second between the teams in the all-time series, joining a scoreless double-overtime deadlock in the first-ever Big South Conference meeting between the rivals on Oct. 18, 2012.
 
"That was a gritty performance against one of the top teams in the league," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer, who has faced Radford head coach Ben Sohrabi in all 20 games in the all-time series between the Commonwealth rivals.
 
"They put us under a lot of pressure early in the game with their movement and playmaking ability on the ball, but we weathered the storm and eventually settled in a little bit. The fact that we scored the first goal of the game really allowed us to do that. We've been struggling to score quite a bit this season, so to score two goals in the first half against a really strong defensive team gives us a lot to be encouraged about moving forward."
 
That first goal came off the head of Longwood junior forward Catharine Forst, who played captain Madison Hommey's perfectly placed cross into the box just past the outstretched hand of Radford goalkeeper Lauren Seedlock for a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.
 
However, that momentum swing proved to be the first of many, as Radford countered almost immediately on the next kickoff. Big South goals leader Kat Parris provided an answer one minute later by finishing off a charge into Longwood's back third with a right-footed strike that followed a pair of lateral passes from Kayla Thomas and Brianna Oliver at the top of the penalty box.
 
The 1-1 deadlock lasted less than five minutes, though, as Hommey's fellow captain and graduate student Madison Lockamy put the Lancers back on top in the 27th minute by hammering home a goal from point-blank range during a scrum in front of the net. That goal was the 11th career score for the All-Big South midfielder, who has now contributed at least one goal in all five years of her Lancer career.
 
Longwood held that lead through halftime and into the 72nd minute, surviving countless Radford chances before the Highlanders finally broke through with an equalizer by Maevyn Jones. That goal came on one of many aggressive sequences from Radford's multi-headed frontline, but it was Katie Oliver's pass to Jones at the top of the box that finally opened up the scoring lane against Longwood keeper Jordan Horacek that tied the game.
 
That would be the last time Radford beat Horacek, however, as the Lancer senior bounced back to put in a heroic, four-save performance in overtime. The last of those sealed the draw by disrupting back-to-back Radford scoring chances in the final minute, with Horacek first diving to redirect a cross in front of the net and then bouncing back up to immediately catch the follow-up from shot on goal from Lily McClane.
 
Horacek finished with five saves and became only the third goalkeeper this season to hold Radford to fewer than three goals and the second to do so through a full 110 minutes.
 
"That's another overtime game and a lot of mileage on our legs, so we will have to do a good job of recovering and preparing for Presbyterian on Sunday," Dyer said.
 
That upcoming Big South game sends Longwood to Clinton, S.C., to face the Blue Hose this Sunday at 1 p.m., which will be the first of three consecutive road games. The next two dates send Longwood to Hampton the following Tuesday and then to Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Oct. 2.
 
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