FARMVILLE, Va. – Sophomore forward Brando Bedolla scored in the 32nd minute and senior goalkeeper Youssou Ouendeno made six saves for his first NCAA clean sheet as the Longwood men's soccer team knocked off Elon, 1-0, at the Longwood Athletics Complex on Tuesday.
On the goal, freshman Benjamin Ferrero stole the ball from Charlie Kitch deep in the Elon end and corralled it on the end line. Ferrero then ripped a low and hard cross to the near post that Bedolla poked home for his third of the season.
The goal was just the third conceded by Elon in eight matches this season.
"I thought it was phenomenal," Longwood head coach Paul Gilbert said of his team's performance. "Coming off of Saturday, a disappointing match for us, [losing, 3-0, at Radford] I felt like our guys heard a lot of the whispers, the doubts, the questions, but we just insulated ourselves a little bit and we have an unwavering belief in each other.
"We got back to who we want to be and our football," he continued," and all credit to our players for waking up on Sunday to a new day and going and getting a great result for this program."
The Coastal Athletic Association-leading Phoenix, who entered the match receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll, suffered the first loss of the season, falling to 5-1-2. The victory is Longwood's first against Elon since Aug. 31, 1996, a 1-0 win on the road.
Bedolla picked up a yellow card in the final seconds of the first half and a second caution in the 72nd minute forcing the Lancers (2-4-2) to play the remaining 18 minutes with 10 men. Under nearly constant pressure from that point on, Longwood held strong earning its first clean sheet of the season.
"Your mentality shifts and you're down a man, up a goal," Gilbert explained. "So it's tough. And you know, we've been on the receiving end of going up a man before, and eventually we were going to be on the receiving end of going down. And that's just the nature of football, right? I thought the guys battled and had a couple saved off the line there and took a lot of shots from Elon that certainly skewed the shots for the match, but so proud of those guys for coming in and just running and just willing us to a 1-0 victory."
Ouendeno, in just his second start for the Lancers after transferring from Madonna and Western Illinois, was spectacular, making five second-half saves, while benefitting from three saves from Longwood defenders in the 58th minute and then twice in a frenetic sequence in the 77th minute.
Elon peppered Longwood in the second half and particularly after Bedolla was sent off, finishing with 19 shots, including 15 after halftime.
It doesn't get any easier moving forward for the Lancers, who host No. 9 High Point Sunday at 5 p.m., before traveling to No. 15 Gardner-Webb Oct. 3 and Virginia Tech, which itself is receiving votes, on Oct. 7.
"We're in the midst of murderers' row," Gilbert said. "I mean, Elon's undefeated, or they were undefeated, and they're an incredible team and High Point obviously is top 25, Incredible. Gardner-Webb, same thing. Virginia Tech having a great year. But that's some of [our players came here], is I promised them we were going to play good teams. And High Point is perennially the top team in our league with Gardner-Webb ascending last year. We have a ton of respect for them and it's going to be be a battle on Sunday and we're gonna have to prepare and, and be ready to go because cause they're really talented."
