FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood women's soccer took care of business behind a smothering press and good halftime adjustments to win a Big South Tournament match on Saturday night.

Meghan Piazza scored off a penalty kick, and Remi Siner earned her first goal of the season in a 2-0 win that pushed the third-seeded Lancers (9-7-2) past sixth-seeded Charleston Southern.

SCORE:
                        1          2          FINAL
CSU                 0          0          0
LWU                0          2          2
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Both sides played with plenty of energy in the first half, but stout defenses walled off the 18-yard box and limited good scoring chances.

That changed after halftime. Charleston Southern (6-8-4) forced Lancer goalkeeper Sara Curtis to make a pair of saves early, but she was equal to the task.

Then the Lancer offense got going. Madison Fitzpatrick corralled a long ball over the top and was dragged down from behind inside the 18 to earn a penalty kick in the 55^th minute.

Piazza made sure it counted. The junior coolly slotted the ball to the left side for a 1-0 lead, but that wasn't enough for the Lancers.

Ten minutes later, Siner blasted home a screamer for a 2-0 lead off a quick find from freshman Sarah Olson.

The Lancer backline, along with Curtis, made it stay that way. Curtis had a trio of saves on the day to earn the win.

WHAT THEY SAID:
"I thought we were a lot better in the second half", said Head Coach Todd Dyer. "Statistically, it looked like we were okay in the first half as far as shots and stuff like that, but I thought we were really flat. I thought we were disconnected. I didn't think we were on brand as far as what we like to try to do with and without the ball, and the score line showed that at the half. We weren't getting any pressure on their center backs, and so they could kind of dictate play starting from the back. They could go direct if they wanted to."

"So, once we got in at halftime, we talked about a few things," Dyer added. "We needed to play harder, and we needed to be more connected in whatever we were doing. But we did change our system. We went to a 4-4-2 with the two center forwards, so I think we were able to get pressure on their center backs a little bit quicker, and it just seemed to be more of a match-up that worked for us in the second half. But ultimately, Fitzpatrick. She changed the game for us. She was just a ball of energy and just didn't give up on anything. You know, earning that penalty kick that Megan was able to put away, she changed the game. Obviously the foul and the penalty, and the goal, you know, that counts for a lot. But just her effort and impact on the game to kind of get it tilted our way. I thought that was huge, and then Remi [Siner] scored a fantastic goal.

"We earned a shutout at home. It had some scary moments, but, you know, bend don't break is the big thing back there," Dyer said. "I'm really happy with how the group responded. I thought they deserved that result. We're really excited to go to Matthews. Ever since they moved the semifinals there, we've managed not to make a semifinal, so we're excited to be heading down that way. We'll play a really good Upstate team, but we will be excited, and we'll take full advantage of that opportunity. But for now, we'll enjoy this, and thanks for all the support throughout the year. All of our fans, our support staff, it's been amazing, and now we'll try to head down and win one more game."

"Well, you just don't know whose day it's going to be, and if it's not going our way, who's going to be the one to, you know, be that spark for us and change the game", said Dyer when asked about depth of impact players on the team. "We've had some really good teams in the past, but one of the strengths of this year's group, from top to bottom, we have players who can do a job for us and help us out at every position. And today was just not necessarily Fitz's [Fitzpatrick's] turn because she gets an opportunity every game, but she's the one that changed it for us. But we have a lot of girls that can do that. Hopefully, it's more of a team effort moving forward. When we're kind of searching for it a little bit, to have one person that can kind of light that fire and get us going is awesome. And for sure, it was Fitz's tonight."

"Old" is how Dyer responded when asked about earning his 300^th collegiate head coaching win. "I'm lucky. I tell everybody I do what I love at a place I love with people I love, and I've just been able to do it for a long, long, long, long time. That's what 300 wins means. I've been here forever, but it never happened without some or all of the amazing players and coaches and staff and parents, and fans. It's been a team effort the whole way, but it keeps getting better. I don't plan on going anywhere. Hopefully, they keep me around 10 more. It's a milestone that I respect and I'm proud of, and not everybody's able to do that. So, I'm very fortunate and very thankful."
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES

• This is the fifth shutout for the Lancers against a Big South opponent this season
• Curtis earned her 22^nd career shutout and her 13^th as a Lancer
• Longwood put up 15 shots in the match
• Piazza is 3-3 for penalty kicks on the season

 
UP NEXT:
Longwood will make its way down to Matthews, N.C., to the Matthews Sportsplex to face off against USC Upstate on Nov. 6, with kickoff slated at 7 p.m. This match will be aired on ESPN+.