SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Senior Ethan Stevenson volleyed a bicycle kick from sophomore Desmond Adeyemi at the top of the six-yard box in the 57th minute as the Longwood men's soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Wofford in non-conference action at Snyder Field on Tuesday.
Setting up the goal, Stevenson's team-leading seventh of the season, the Lancers drew a set piece 30 yards from goal. Senior Iago Rodriguez played a lofted ball into the penalty area that glanced off of a Wofford defender. Keeping the play alive, Adeyemi bicycle kicked the ball to the opposite side of the box where Stevenson was waiting to pound it past Terriers goalkeeper Leo Lenin (one save).
"Not exactly the way we drew it up for Desmond to have a bicycle kick and us to volley that in, but you'll take it. You'll certainly take it any way that you can get it," said Longwood head coach Paul Gilbert. "I'm just glad that our guys just continued to hunt the ball and they didn't stop. I think that's a credit to Ethan Stevenson. Everybody is stopping for the bicycle kick. He just kept going."
From there, Longwood junior goalie Max Hinke and the Lancers' defense kept Wofford off the board to post their first clean sheet of the season. Hinke made a career-high-tying eight saves — including five in the first half —for his seventh career shutout and fourth at Longwood.
Longwood was outshot, 20-8, in the match and defended seven Wofford corner kicks, earning just two for itself on the night.
"In the first half, we attacked really well," Gilbert said. "I thought we created some chances, they created some chances. I thought it was a really even game and once we got the goal in the second half, I think we started defending a little bit more and felt like we could see out a, a 1-0 victory.
"I've told the guys this before — we have to be able to win games 1-0 as we move forward throughout the season and to be able to hold on to a clean sheet for the first time this year was incredible," Gilbert said.
Central to that clean sheet was Hinke, who also benefited from a ball being cleared off of his line in the 55th minute.
"He made all the saves that we expect him to," Gilbert said of the Marpingen, Germany native "And then I think he made one save that was a game saver and that's what we need from our goalkeeper. We don't necessarily need him to make all these unbelievable saves, but to really be clean and handle the stuff that's in and around them, and I thought he did."
With the win, the Lancers stopped a three-match skid while improving to 4-6-2 on the year. The loss drops Wofford to 4-4-2 overall.
Longwood returns home to host Gardner-Webb in Big South play Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m., and will be streamed on ESPN+.
