WASHINGTON D.C. – Adversity can strike at any time, and unfortunately for Longwood women's lacrosse, it happened right before their matchup with George Washington on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lancers had to scramble after starting goalkeeper Amelia Carlile, the reigning Big South Freshman of the Week, went down with an injury. George Washington (2-6) capitalized on Longwood's misfortune to win 14-4.
 
"Unfortunately for us, today was George Washington's day," said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "We had to make a last second goalie switch prior to the game, which really threw us off and gave GW the edge they needed. They're already a solid team, so giving them an extra edge definitely hurt us."
 
Amber Germer keyed a Colonial attack with four goals on five shots, and she was one of five players who scored multiple goals for a balanced GW attack.
 
Meanwhile, Haley Moomau led Longwood (3-4) with a pair of goals, but the Lancers were forced to shuffle their lineup as leading goal scorer Claire Libby went to play in goal in the emergency situation.
 
"However, on the positive side, props to junior Claire Libby and senior Keelyn Haarhoff for stepping up and selflessly filling in," Jones said. "Claire played the first three quarters and tallied 12 saves, which was awesome. On the negative side, our lineup had to be shifted around due to the goalie situation and a couple other factors, so we had some different personnel in different spots, which put us a bit off kilter. All in all, it simply wasn't our best day, but that's adversity for you, striking when you least expect it. We just need to take the loss, learn the lessons and continue moving forward."
 
Longwood struck first on Emily Cate Smith's goal less than two minutes into the match, but George Washington responded with six straight. The Colonials never trailed from that point on.
 
The Lancers are back in action on Wednesday as they head to Williams & Mary for their final non-conference contest before diving into Big South play next weekend when they host Radford.
 
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