WASHINGTON, D.C. – Through their first four games of the season, Longwood women's soccer has found scoring opportunities abundant, but goals hard to come by. Friday night at Howard, the Lancers finally broke through.
 
Backed by goals from freshman Kylie Tusant and All-Big South junior Kiersten Yuhas, the Lancers (1-4-0) put together their first multi-goal game of the season and cruised to a 2-1 win over Howard (1-1-0) Friday evening at Greene Stadium. The Lancer win snapped a 12-game home winning streak for the Bison, who had not lost on their own turf since Sept. 17, 2018.
 
"It feels great to get that first win under our belt, especially in front of a big crowd on the road," said Dyer, who improved to 16-3-1 against the Bison since the series began in 2003.
 
"We started off slow but held strong defensively until we settled into a little more possession and scoring chances. Kylie Tusant and Julia Gill, two of our freshmen, had an immediate impact by combining for our first goal within seconds of stepping on the field. Then Yuhas stepped up and gave us a little breathing room with her goal."
 
In front of nearly 1,000 spectators on Howard's home field, Longwood silenced that crowd early thanks to Tusant's go-ahead goal in the 27th minute and Yuhas' follow-up in the 64th minute. However, the Bison – who opened the season with a 3-1 win against Longwood's Big South rival Hampton – cut into that deficit in the game's final minutes thanks to Melea Earley's score with less than nine minutes left on the game clock.
 
Earley's goal put an immediate charge back into Howard's offense, as the Bison ripped three more shots in the ensuing minutes. However, Longwood goalkeeper Jordan Horacek – in her second straight start – stopped one of those and watched the other two sail wide to preserve the lead and earn her first career victory.
 
"Our game management could have been cleaner in the end," added Dyer, "but we weathered the storm after conceding a late goal and earned the result. I'm happy that the whole group got to see their hard work pay off."
 
Howard, a newly minted member of the Northeast Conference who had won three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular-season titles and three SWAC tournament titles since 2014, had not allowed multiple goals at home since their aforementioned previous loss at Greene Stadium in 2008. Longwood needed just six shots – four on goal – to earn those two scores, marking the program's most efficient scoring performance since needing just four shots to pull out a 2-1 victory over Saint Francis on Sept. 26, 2008.
 
The win comes in the midst of a five-game road swing for the Lancers, who have already faced Richmond and Howard and will continue this Sunday with a trip to Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C. The fourth leg of that road trip will take them back to the Northeast where they will face UMBC in Baltimore on Sept. 9 before returning to the Commonwealth for a Central Virginia rivalry showdown against Liberty on Sept. 12.
 
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