Lancers survive late goal to win
Set pieces play key role in goals for either side
Halle Parker | Sports Editor | @_HalParker
In their second exhibition game against a lower division school, Longwood men’s soccer defeated the University of Mary Washington (UMW) Eagles 2–1 on Monday night, August 24.
The victory did not come without having to survive a few last minute attempts by the Eagles following a late goal by UMW freshman forward Jacob Burke off a free kick with under six minutes left in the game.
All of the goals in the match were scored off set pieces.
“Obviously it (set pieces) plays a big role for and against us. All of the goals we have conceded during this preseason have been off set pieces and we scored two so they are definitely a big piece of the game,” said junior midfielder Daniel Campos.
Twelve minutes before halftime, Longwood sophomore defender Alex Waite rocketed a header from inside the box off a cross by junior midfielder Finnlay Wyatt created by a corner. Waite’s first goal for the Lancers increased the pace after an uneventful start to the first half.
Following halftime, the Lancers came out quicker on the field to score another goal six minutes into play off another corner. The finish came from the head of junior midfielder Michael Margulis to give Longwood a 2–0 lead until Burke’s goal.
“I felt like at times we handled the pressure well and at other times we kind of gave up silly passes, gave them easy stuff,” said senior defender Michael Durr. “But in the end, we got the result so we can’t really argue with that. But towards the end, we just have to make sure that we stay composed all the way through and seal off games.”
In the game five days prior, Division II Bluefield State College also finished a goal within the last six minutes of the game on an opportunity created by a set piece after Longwood was up a controlling 4–0.
“It’s disappointing, something we need to address. From being in a controlling position, you know goals galvanize teams and I think that gives enough energy and the game of soccer is such where anything could happen in the last ten minutes if you’re not careful,” said men’s soccer head coach Jon Atkinson.
Despite the going without a shutout in either game, Atkinson still had praise for his two starting center backs, both anchoring the back line the whole game.
“I do give credit to the two central defenders. I think they’ve done well, Marten (Pajunurm) and Mike (Michael Durr), corralled the troops pretty well and did what they could do and I think it was up to the rest of the team to support the run of play for 90 minutes and I don’t think we did a great job of that,” said Atkinson.
The final buzzer sounded the end to the preseason of men’s soccer. After facing two opponents, Atkinson said, “There’s never enough (practice).”
This Friday’s home game, August 28, against the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) will be the first of Longwood’s regular season campaign.
“Our season is so short and the way the schedule is set up gives us two and half weeks of prep and that’s never enough to get a team perfectly ready, but we’re using the front end of the season to develop game fitness and game sharpness, so we’re looking forward to a tough game against VMI,” said Atkinson.
