JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -Freshman forward
Levon Saribekyan netted a second-half hat trick to push Longwood to 5-0 on the season behind a 4-3 road win at ETSU on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 2-1 at the half, Saribekyan scored twice over a 5:41 stretch to flip the lead back in favor of the Lancers. In the 59th minute, the rookie striker followed up a saved
Brando Bedolla shot to tie the game at two. Bedolla then set up Saribekyan in the 65th minute to put the visitors on top 3-2.
The Bucs (1-3) pulled even at three in the 76th minute thanks to a right-footed shot from Elliot Edwards.
Saribekyan provided the winner via a penalty kick in the 85th minute to complete the second-half hat trick. On the play, Bedolla was cut down by a ETSU defender, while dribbling in the box, resulting in the PK. It marked the first hat trick for the Lancers (5-0) since 2024 and the fourth time this season Longwood had a player with multiple goals in a game.
Graduate student goalkeeper
Nicolas Pucci finished with just two saves, but he came up big in the closing minute. The Longwood backstop denied a chance from Joe Gonzalez in the 89th minute to preserve the Lancer victory.
Bedolla added to his national-leading assist total with three for the afternoon. It marks the second time this season that he tallied three assists in a game. Bedolla's eight helpers on the year through five games already rank second on the program's Division I single-season list.
Longwood's five-game win streak to start the 2026 campaign is the second-longest stretch in the program's Division I history, trailing only a seven-game streak in 2011. The 5-0 start to the season is the program's best since 1988 when it began the year 9-0. It is just the fourth time in school history Longwood has started a season 5-0 or better. In all three Lancer road wins this season, the team rallied from a second-half deficit to pull out the victory.
The first four shots of the match came from the home team, but freshman
Magnus Hansen made the first one count for the Lancers count in the 27th minute. The rookie defender finished a pass from Bedolla to give Longwood a 1-0 lead. It was Hansen's first career goal.
ETSU scored twice in the final six minutes of the opening half to take a 2-1 lead to the locker room. All-SoCon midfielder Jaime Carrillo tallied his first goal of the season at the 39:01 mark to draw the home team even at one. Matias Delellis scored his first career goal with just over a minute left in the first half to give the Bucs a 2-1 lead.
Quotable
"Today was a very difficult match. Being the second away match of the week, the initial rain delay, and super hot conditions made for a tough day.
I thought we created a lot of really good chances in the first half, but only found the back of the net once. In the second half I thought our resilience and togetherness won out, and we really started to create chances.
I am super happy with the response from the group and final result. We are excited to get back to the Farm and start preparing for next week." - Head Coach
Paul Gilbert
Scoring Summary
27' | Longwood –
Magnus Hansen (
Brando Bedolla)
40' | ETSU - Jaime Carrillo (Elliot Edwards / Caleb Powell)
44' | ETSU – Matias Delellis (unassisted)
59' | Longwood –
Levon Saribekyan (Bedolla)
65' | Longwood – Saribekyan (Bedolla)
76' | ETSU – Edwards (unassisted)
85' | Longwood – Saribekyan (penalty kick)
Up Next
Longwood wraps up its three-game road trip at in-state foe James Madison on Friday, Sept. 11. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
