Junior midfielder and All-Big South first team selection Dan Campos finished with two goals and two assists on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Lancer Field, leading the Lancers to a 4-3 overtime victory on senior night.
Longwood started off the game by honoring this year’s six seniors. The seniors included the Lancers starting goalkeeper, Carlos Canas, defender Evan Fowler, midfielder Zach Corcoran, midfielder Finnlay Wyatt, midfielder Michael Margulis and midfielder Sam Yardley.
This was the seniors’ first time beating Liberty in their four years at Longwood, and the Lancers’ first defeat over the in-state rival in Division I history.
“It was a phenomenal experience, I don’t think you can ask for anything better in the final game,” said head coach Jon Atkinson. “Just to send off the seniors, I think every program in the country would like a sendoff like that where you beat your local rival for the first time ever with a big senior class that wanted that night.”
Campos scored the first goal of the game in the 11th minute. Campos dribbled the ball along the goal line, and scored off the left corner of the goal from a very small angle.
This put the Lancers in the lead for about 20 seconds, when Liberty’s freshman forward Rigoberto Rojas went on a fast break and tied it up scoring on a one-on-one with Canas.
Then, junior defender Marten Pajunurm scored in the 14th minute, giving Longwood 2-1 lead over the Flames. Pajunurm finished a one-touch shot out of the air off a free kick from Campos. This lead lasted into the second half until Liberty tied the game up for the second time.
Liberty’s sophomore midfielder Geovanny Murillo scored a goal in the 69th minute. This was the first of three goals in nine minutes. The second goal in the sequence was in the 72nd minute by Longwood freshman midfielder and Big South All-Freshman team selection Max Poelker.
Poelker finished his shot into the top left corner after receiving a through ball from Campos at the top of the box. This gave Longwood its third lead of the night at 3-2, but this did not stop Liberty from coming back for a third time.
Liberty junior midfielder Pepe Segarra scored the third goal in the nine minute span in the 78th minute. This tied up Longwood and Liberty one last time and took the two teams into overtime.
“In the huddle we just said keep going and just keep playing our game, and it will come out,” said Campos.
Each team had their opportunities to score in overtime, but between Canas’ key saves and Campos finishing his shot, Longwood came up victorious. Canas finished the game with nine saves, including two big saves in overtime. Campos played a role in all four goals for Longwood. He scored the first goal of the game and assisted the next two. Then Campos scored the winning goal in overtime off of a free kick in the 98th minute, hitting the top left corner from 35 yards out.
This win puts the Lancers into the Big South Tournament where they will play UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals on Oct. 6.
“We already played Asheville once, and we will go into there with a lot of confidence. It’s just we need to work hard and keep on working when it comes down to it,” said Campos.
Longwood will look to advance to the semi-finals for the second time in four years, giving their senior class one last chance at the championship.
Junior midfielder Dan Campos garnered All-Big South first team honors going into tournament play.
