CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a battle of two teams celebrating their 25th-year anniversaries, 90 minutes wasn't enough to decide a winner.
 
Longwood, the Big South's preseason No. 2 pick, and Charlotte, Conference USA's preseason No. 3, went through regulation and beyond before Charlotte all-conference forward Megan Greene put the game away with set-piece game-winner in overtime that sealed a 1-0 win for the 49ers (1-0-0) in the 2018 season opener.
 
"I'm really proud of the fight and mental toughness we showed tonight," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer. "Charlotte is a top team in a top conference, and I really think they had their hands full with us tonight. They had more of the play, but we certainly created our fair amount of chances to keep them honest."
 
The game featured a showdown between two teams entering the season in similar standing, first as programs who both played their inaugural seasons in 1993 and are in the midst of their 25th season, and second as teams carrying lofty preseason expectations.
 
Both Charlotte and Longwood (0-1-0) came into Friday's season-opener following matching runner-up finishes in their respective conferences in 2017. The 49ers parlayed that 11-8-2 season into Conference USA's preseason No. 3 ranking, as voted on by the league's head coaches, while Longwood came in as the Big South's No. 2 following a 13-5-3 campaign.
 
But in the heavyweight battle between two of the best from Conference USA and the Big South, it was the 49ers who finally broke open the scoreless game. Greene did the game-winning honors on a free kick in the 97th minute, redirecting a long ball from Riley Orr through traffic and past Lancer goalkeeper Madison Van Dyke.
 
Prior to that goal, however, Van Dyke more than held their own against Charlotte, racking up seven saves in her collegiate debut. The 5-7 sophomore, who did not see action as a freshman while backing up record-setting Longwood goalkeeper Maria Kirby, dispatched several of those 49er shots from point-blank range and disrupted a number of one-on-one scoring changes throughout the game.
 
"Mado was a beast in goal tonight, and in the end it took a set piece in overtime to edge us at the end," Dyer said. "This whole night makes us a better team."
 
However, even after Van Dyke and Longwood's vaunted backline of Big South Defensive Player of the Year Sydney Wallace, Freshman of the Year Carrie Reaver and All-Big South selection Taylor Alvey kept Charlotte in check through the first 90 minutes, Greene found her way to the net in overtime. That goal was the 21st of her three-year career following the back-to-back 10-goal campaigns she strung together as a freshman and sophomore.
 
On the other side of the field, Charlotte's defense limited Longwood's shooting lanes and held the Lancers to just three shots on goal, all of which goalkeeper Abby Stapleton kept out of the net. The Lancers got off nine shots in total, but the 49ers kept them away from goal for the entire overtime period.
 
Longwood will have little time to dwell on the loss before their next game, which is less than 48 hours away as Commonwealth rival Richmond heads to the Lancers' home field Sunday for a 7 p.m. showdown at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
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