FARMVILLE, Va. – When they needed it, the Longwood lacrosse team dug deep and battled back against Winthrop on Wednesday afternoon in the final game of the regular season.
 
The Lancers used a second-half surge on offense and a shutdown defensive effort that limited the Eagles to two goals after halftime. The end result was a 14-13 win that put Longwood (6-11, 3-6 Big South) in a tie with Winthrop (4-13, 3-6 Big South) and Wofford for the final playoff spot in the Big South standings.
 
That second-half surge saw Longwood outshoot Winthrop 19-7, and the team also tallied 17 ground balls to Winthrop's nine after halftime.
 
The defense picked up its energy and aggressiveness as well, as the team was credited with nine caused turnovers in the final 30 minutes. The swarming defense enveloped a Winthrop (4-13, 3-6 Big South) attack that had totaled 11 goals in the first half.

"We're so proud of our team's heart, hustle and resilience today," said Longwood head coach Elaine Jones. "It was herculean effort against a tough and well coached Winthrop squad, and our team really came through. It was so exciting to see their hard work and determination finally pay off."
 
Emily Cate Smith was everywhere throughout the game on offense for Longwood. The sophomore had a hand in eight of Longwood's 13 goals behind a career best eight points (four goals, four assists) to go with three caused turnovers, but she had plenty of help. Eight players scored a goal as part of a diverse Longwood attack, and five different players scoring after halftime. Haley Moomau had a trio of goals as well, and Riley McDonald added two goals. Nicole Fordyce chipped in a goal and three assists.
 
Meanwhile, Amelia Carlile made her presence known in the fourth quarter with four huge saves, including a pair of saves in the final minute to preserve the win. The freshman made 10 saves in the game, the seventh time this season she has hit double figures. She finished the regular season with 144 saves, seven shy of cracking the top 10 in a single season.

"The offense was in sync, and we had eight different scorers, led by Emily Cate, Haley and Nikki, who really put the team on their backs with goals and assists today," Jones said. "The defense, led by Rachel Abraham, Hannah Tirrell and Julia Koenig, really stymied Winthrop multiple times, giving our offense the opportunity to score, which was awesome. And of course, shout out to Amelia who sealed the win with her last second save."
 
For Winthrop, Lauren Asher, Alyssa Angelo and Claire Witmer had three goals each, and Kelsey Johnson had 11 saves in goal.
 
The two sides traded blows in the first quarter, and Smith punched home the equalizer with four seconds to play in the quarter to knot the score at five all.
 
Winthrop started the second quarter on a tear and scored four straight to take a 9-5 lead. Smith stemmed the tide briefly with an unassisted goal to stop the run, and Lauren Cerretani slotted one home with a shade more than a minute left in the half to cut the Winthrop lead to 11-8.
 
The Lancers erupted in the third quarter. The defense was airtight, and the offense had four different goal scorers. Smith assisted on the final two goals of the quarter, one to Riley McDonald and one to Miranda Helfenbein, to make it 12-12 headed to the fourth quarter.

"Not a single person ever game up when we went down by four, which really showed our resilience," Jones said.
 
Smith then found Claire Libby for the go-ahead goal with 8:34 to play, and Moomau added what proved to be the game winner with five minutes left.
 
The Eagles used a last gasp and had a chance to tie it up with a free position with less than five seconds to go, but Carlile stonewalled Molly Dankowski on the doorstep to preserve the win.

"A huge thanks and props to our seniors, Rachel Abraham, Keelyn Haarhoff, Katie Call, Nicole Fordyce, Kylie Cahill, Haley Moomau and Hannah Tirrell for their commitment and dedication to the program," Jones added. "We are so glad we could send them out on a win. While this unfortunately ends our season, at least we are happy that we are ending with our heads high knowing that we came out and played the R-I-G-H-T brand of Longwood lacrosse."
 
While the Lancers did finish tied for sixth with Wofford and Winthrop, the tiebreakers went against Longwood to end their season.
 
#HorsePower