FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood women's soccer made its mark in its regular season finale with a 2-0 win against UNC Asheville.

Karleigh Minson and Taylor Hoag both sent the ball home in the first half, and the Longwood (8-7-2, 5-3 Big South) defense held the Asheville (5-8-3, 1-4-2 Big South) in their own third to preserve the shutout.
 
SCORE
                                 1               2               FINAL
AVL                          0               0               0
LWU                         2               0               0
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Longwood found its shape and maintained pressure throughout the first half.

The Lancers were able to put up three shots before Minson slotted it home in the 18^th minute after a shot from Sam Fischer that goalkeeper Gracie Murray was forced to save.

Longwood didn't stop there.

Minson, Madison Fitzpatrick, and Remi Siner all took shots before Hoag fired it to the back of the net to lead 2-0 in the 37^th minute.

The battle intensified on both ends coming out of the half, but the Longwood forward line put up nine shots throughout the second half.  

Longwood continued to hold the Bulldogs to their half of the field and held them to only three shots in the second.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
"I thought we had a good start, you want to be on the front foot, want to pressure them when we don't have the ball, and be attack-minded when we do have the ball, and I thought we did all those things", said Head Coach Todd Dyer. "A lot of the game was played deep in our attacking end for most of their first half, and we obviously got two goals out of it. I thought we pressed the issue, kind of tilted the field in our favor, in what we did with and without the ball. At the end of the day, two goals were enough, so we're happy with that."

"We wanted to host next weekend", said Dyer when asked about the team's thoughts going into the match. "We had a pretty good idea that we were in the tournament as one of the six that qualify, but not being the one or two seed in the bye; the next best thing was going to be able to earn the right to host, and we did that. We don't have to worry about travel; we should be comfortable and really well supported here. We didn't want it to end – we wanted to play another game on this field."

"We threw a lot of bodies at them", said Dyer when asked about his forward line during the match. "We started our front three, then 20-25 minutes after that, we put another three on the field. It's almost like hockey shifts; we can play attacking lines up there with our three forwards, and it just keeps pressure on the other team. We've got fresh legs running at them with and without the ball over 90 minutes. We have a lot of capable attacking players up there, and everybody gets their turn and makes the most of it."

"Win one game", was Dyer's mindset for their upcoming tournament match. "Just win one game. We're not sure who it is yet, and we don't play on Wednesday, where most of the league does, so we'll be able to watch, rest, and get our legs back under us. But once we know who it is, that's all we're worried about is winning that one. And if we're fortunate enough to do that, we'll see what comes next."

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• The Lancers won their fifth league game in a season for the first time since 2021
• Hoag earned her first goal of the season
• Minson earned her second goal of the season after scoring once against VMI
• Fischer led the team with four shots
• Sara Curtis earned her 21^st career shutout and 12^th as a Lancer

 
UP NEXT:
The Lancers will finish in either third or fourth spot in the Big South Conference, cementing their chance to host a tournament match at home. More information to come when the conference releases the full tournament bracket. Longwood has a bye on the final week of Big South regular-season play.
 
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