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The Rotunda
Monday, February 3, 2025

Men’s Soccer Suffers First Loss, then Rebounds Afterward

   The LU men’s soccer team had a four-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday, losing 3-1 at Campbell and ending their undefeated record in the Big South. They rebounded over the weekend with a crucial 2-1 home victory over Winthrop.

   Against Campbell, the Lancers gave up the first goal, as Jhuvon Francis scored off a Bryce Miller assist in the 26th minute. Freshman forward Nnamdi Ikeazor scored the first goal of his Longwood career three minutes later, as Vaughn Fowler fed him in the circle and Ikeazor’s hard shot evaded Campbell goalkeeper Ethan Hall. The Lancers (6-6-3, 5-2-1 Big South) led 6-4 in shots at halftime, but Francis took over from there, scoring twice 24 minutes apart, completing his hat trick in the 80th minute.

   Head Coach Jon Atkinson said, “It goes without saying that we are disappointed with the result, and we should be, as we had a good say in the argument tonight. We started well, playing some good possession soccer and were unfortunate to go behind when we did. Campbell is a good team and their threat is there to see, but I felt their goalkeeper was the man of the match, making some crucial saves when the game could have gone either way.”

   He continued, “That's soccer – you must take your chances and Campbell took theirs. Lessons learned and plenty to still play for.”

   Hall made eight saves, and the two teams were tied 12-12 in shots at the end of the match.

   However, it was a different story against Winthrop. Achille Obougou scored in the 10th minute for the Eagles and it appeared that things would not go Longwood’s way until the 70th minute, when Christian Keilty put the Lancers on the scoreboard to tie the game 1-1. There was a scramble for the ball around the net and Keilty’s shot ricocheted off a defender and went in. Keilty also had a hand in the eventual winner that came with 29 seconds to go. He kicked a long ball up the pitch and found Anthony Ugorji, whose hard kick was deflected as well and rolled in, prompting a massive celebration for the team’s fifth Big South win of the year.

   “Credit to Winthrop, who made it an enthralling encounter,” Atkinson said. “While I feel their goal was against the run of play, they had good moments throughout the game and will be a player come tournament time. Goals are the lifeblood of teams and we had the chance to lead seconds into the game, but instead we conceded and had to claw our way back.”

   “Games like this are the definition of our team,” Ugorji said. “We fought from behind and we knew we were in this game if we kept fighting and chipping away at it. We believed we could get a result because we knew we could match this team. We gave up an early goal, but we wanted to keep fighting and keep our heads up.”

   On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the Lancers fell to the Liberty Flames 2-1 in Lynchburg. The Flames scored early off of a corner kick and loose ball in the front by forward Sachem Wilson. The first half concluded with a 1-0 score; however, in the 65th minute of the game, sophomore midfielder Philip van Berkom scored off of a beautiful shot to the left side over the keeper from 35 yards out, an assist by Jonathan Kukapa. The Lancers and Flames went into overtime with a 1-1 tie, but in the eighth minute of overtime, the Flames forward/midfielder Kyle Breitmeyer scored off of a cross giving Liberty the 2-1 win over Longwood.

   The team hosts Presbyterian on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Athletics Complex before heading to Boone, N.C. for their final non-conference game of the year on Thursday at 7 p.m.