FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood's home win streak is over, and it took a reigning NCAA Tournament team to end it.
 
Riding a four-game winning streak on their home pitch, the Lancers (1-3-1) finally saw that run come to an end at the hands of 2017 Southern Conference champion UNCG, which held off Longwood for a 1-0 win Friday night at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
The Spartans (3-1-1), picked to finish second in the SoCon Preseason Coaches Poll, became the first team to win on Longwood's home field since High Point pulled off a 1-0 win in last season's Big South opener on Sept. 23, 2017. The loss also snapped a four-game home shutout streak for Longwood, which had not allowed a goal at home since battling Campbell to a 2-2 draw on Oct. 4, 2017.
 
"That is a UNCG team with a ton of quality and class," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer. "It's no wonder they won their league and qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year. With all that said, I thought we were in the game the whole time. We're disappointed with the goal we allowed, but we created some chances of our own when we started playing with some urgency and purpose."
 
The high-scoring Spartans entered the game on the strength of back-to-back three-goal outbursts but needed just one to outlast the defensive-minded Lancers Friday. The game-winner came off the foot of junior forward Cienna Rideout, who got loose behind Longwood's defense and beat goalkeeper Madison Van Dyke one-on-one in the 29th minute for a 1-0 lead.
 
That was one of six shots on goal UNCG created, and it would be the last Van Dyke allowed during her four-save night.
 
Rideout's goal stood for the remaining 62 minutes, as UNCG goalkeeper Aiyanah Tyler-Cooper managed three second-half saves of her own to withstand Longwood's late-game onslaught. Longwood spent the bulk of the final quarter of the game on UNCG's end of the field and peppered three shots on net in the final 10 minutes, but Tyler-Cooper saved one of those and the UNCG defense blocked two others.
 
"This game showed that we can play with teams like this," said senior midfielder Annie Boros, who logged 70 minutes Friday. "Playing like we did in the second half, we know that's the level we're capable of, but we have to do it for an entire game. Going into conference, if we can play like that consistently, we're going to win games. We just need to bring that intensity for the full 90 minutes."
 
UNCG is the most recent in a run of challenging non-conference opponents for the Lancers, who have faced Conference USA preseason No. 3 Charlotte, Atlantic 10 foe Richmond and an American team that is undefeated at 4-0-1.
 
Now just two games remain before Longwood opens Big South play and begins its pursuit of the conference championship that was within reach before High Point defeated the Lancers 1-0 in the Big South title game.
 
"The lesson learned is that we can't waste minutes and only react after going down a goal," Dyer said. "I'm sure this team will respond in a positive way Sunday."
 
The loss comes in Longwood's last home game for nearly three weeks, as the Lancers will embark on a three-game road swing to Howard on Sept. 2, Wake Forest on Sept. 9 and at High Point for the conference opener on Sept. 15.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Sophomore goalkeeper Madison Van Dyke has allowed more than one goal just once all season, including a pair of overtime games. Her 0.94 goals against average is the third-lowest in the Big South.
• Longwood survived seven UNCG corner kicks and allowed shots on just two of those.
• Sophomore and reigning Big South Freshman of the Year Carrie Reaver led Longwood in shots for the second straight game, taking three to match her total from last Sunday's draw at Towson.
• UNCG outshot Longwood 13-10 and put six of their 13 shots on goal.
• Van Dyke saved five of those shots, while Longwood pulled out a team save as well.
• Reaver and Sydney Wallace have played all 477 minutes of the season. Wallace, the reigning Big south Defensive Player of the Year, has not missed a second of a single game since the start of her sophomore season.
• Longwood became only the second team this season to hold UNCG to fewer than two goals.

 
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