FARMVILLE, Va. – A second-half rally came to a heartrending end for Longwood lacrosse on senior day against Presbyterian at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.
 
The Lancers (1-12, 1-5 Big South) had erased a six-goal deficit to take a late lead, but Presbyterian (5-11, 2-5 Big South) scored two goals in the final 90 seconds to squeeze past Longwood 13-12.
 
Emma Claire Mills scored the game winner with a scorcher of a shot with one second to play.
 
Longwood, meanwhile, rallied behind hat tricks from Kendra DeFilippo and Alexandra Hirst as the team outscored Presbyterian 6-3 in the second half.

SCORING:
               1             2             3             4             FINAL
PC          6             4             0             3             13
LWU      4             2             3             3             12
   













HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The two sides were neck and neck early on and traded goals for most of the first period.
 
Ellie Rumbaugh tallied two goals and an assist for the Lancers in the opening 15 minutes, giving the team a ton of energy. However, an injury felled her for the remainder of the game in a physical contest, and Presbyterian found new life.
 
The Blue Hose went on a run, and five of their first eight goals were man-up opportunities. Back-to-back strikes by Emily Currie made it 10-4, PC's largest lead of the game, with 7:12 to go in the half.
 
But the Lancers weren't done. DeFilippo found Bailey Stratton for a goal, and then DeFilippo scored one herself off a nice find from Anastasia Lajoie, who had three assists on the day. The two strikes, less then a minute apart, trimmed the deficit to 10-6 at the break.
 
Longwood's defense then pitched a shutout in the third period. Meanwhile, the Lancer offense continued to work the ball around, with three different goal scorers in the quarter. Stratton, Madison Rogers and Hirst combined to cut the lead to 10-9 heading to the fourth.
 
Presbyterian stemmed the tide momentarily with a goal early in the fourth, but Hirst and Rodges scored a goal apiece to tie the game at 11 with 7:27 to play.
 
Both sides then went quiet, as the defenses made it challenging to get a rhythm. Finally, DeFilippo put Longwood up 12-11 with 3:46 to go off a feed from Elena Fireston.
 
However, Presbyterian answered with a goal from Currie to tie the game at 12 with 1:21 left, and then Mills put home the game winner with one second to play.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"It was a great game, but the ball didn't seem to go our way today when we needed it to," said Longwood Head Coach Dwayne Hicks. "But I'm proud of the way they fought back from being down 10-4 to take the lead. We just didn't take care of the ball today, and it cost us."
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood returns to action on Wednesday, April 23 when the team travels to Winthrop. Opening draw is set for 4 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+.
 
#GoWood #HorsePower