Hosting their first Big South tournament game since 2013, the Longwood women’s soccer team prevailed over Charleston Southern on Friday night, 3-0, securing their spot in the Big South semifinals for the second straight year.
Longwood head coach Todd Dyer, who was named the 2017 Big South Coach of the Year, said he was pleased with the continuous pressure put on the Bucs' defense.
“Our goal was to try to outwork them, if we were able to do that, we trusted that the soccer and the quality in our players would shine through and I thought we came close to achieving that,” said Dyer. “But just having the energy and really playing on the front foot was what we needed to do to start things off, and I thought we did.”
The Lancers broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when junior midfielder Kelly Almeida connected with a volley 20 yards away from the net, giving them an early advantage.
Senior forward Teresa Fruchterman and junior defender Sydney Wallace added two more goals in the second half, cementing the Lancers win.
The Lancers have won seven of their previous nine matches, including Friday’s win.
Wallace’s goal came off her head, directing senior midfielder Janese Quick’s free kick into the net for the 2017 Big South Defensive Player of Year's first goal of the season and Quick’s second assist of the night.
“We stayed connected as a team and we executed plays,” said Wallace.
Several other Lancers were awarded with Big South honors before the game, including Freshman of the Year Carrie Reaver, Scholar-Athlete of the Year Teresa Fruchterman. Along with a handful of all-conference award winners like sophomore defender Taylor Alvey, junior midfielder Kat Miller, sophomore forward Emilie Kupsov, senior goalkeeper Maria Kirby and Quick.
13 different Lancers ripped a shot, with ten of them having two or more. Longwood out-shot the Bucs 28-10, with 15 of them coming in the first half. Their 28 shots exceeded their previous season-high of 26.
“I think we did a good job of possessing the ball, creating those chances (to score), and just taking advantage of them when they presented themselves,” said Dyer. “They were just hungry to score, had lots of the ball and were playing with energy.”
The Lancers will have to wait until next Friday, Nov. 3 for their Big South semifinal game against No. 1 Liberty, who beat No. 7 Gardner-Webb Friday night by a score of 2-1. Longwood defeated Liberty in their previous match earlier this season, 3-0.
