FARMVILLE, Va. — Kevin Peprah finished off a nifty passing play in the 78th minute to lift the Longwood men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over East Tennessee State in non-conference action at the Longwood Athletics Complex on Friday.
Peprah, a graduate transfer from Rider, took a feed from Jesus Macaya across the six-yard box and slipped it past ETSU goalkeeper Emil Holmberg for the winner, his first collegiate goal. Sophomore Brando Bedolla started the play at the top of the penalty area, chipping the ball wide to Macaya.
The goal completed the scoring in a frenetic second half that featured four goals.
"I told them two things," said Longwood head coach Paul Gilbert of his postgame message to the team. "The first thing is that when we commit to our principles and our style and how we want to play, it works, it's really special. And when we do that, you can sleep well at night, Living with the result. And then the second is they were just warriors. We got several key players not playing. we had one key player who was really sick and he sucked it up. And then we've got other guys who are new, put in difficult positions and they were warriors."
Bedolla paced the Lancers with a goal and an assist for his third career multiple-point outing, after he opened the scoring in the 24th minute.
Bedolla volleyed home a deflected shot by Ezrah Serralde for his second goal in as many matches for the early lead.
Division II transfer Syrus Conolly scored his first Longwood goal just after halftime to double the Lancers' lead to 2-0. On that play, Peprah received the ball on the far side and dribbled into the box. He lost control, but it found the foot of Conolly, who slipped the ball home low to the far post in the 49th minute.
ETSU (0-3-0) scored the next two in the 57th and 76th minutes through Henrique Cruz and Stanley Issaac, respectively, to draw even, setting the stage for Peprah's winner.
With the win, Longwood (1-0-1) remains unbeaten in its first two matches of the season for the first time since 2023.
The Lancers outshot ETSU, 19-16, on the night, including 14-12 in the second half.
Max Hinke made four saves in the Longwood goal to pick up the victory, while Holmberg suffered the loss despite turning aside seven shots.
Bedolla, Jose Coutinho and Peprah led Longwood with four shots apiece.
Longwood returns to action next Friday against Wofford at home. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., on ESPN+.
