Despite creating over three times as many shots, Longwood’s game against Howard still came down to the last four minutes of golden goal overtime. Senior forward Zach Crandall fired the game-winner from the top of the box to put an end to the Lancers’ last nonconference game on Tuesday, Oct. 20 with a final score of 3-2.
Men’s head coach Jon Atkinson struggled to find words to describe the night’s performance, calling it “patchy.”
“We need to do a better job. Fair play to Howard, they made it tricky for us. They took advantage of the one or two opportunities that they had and we had to dig ourselves from out of a hole,” said Atkinson. “We’re a very capable team, but we’re not doing ourselves any favors right now.”
Of Longwood’s 29 shots, Howard’s graduate goalkeeper Sam Howard rose to the occasion to make 10 saves, keeping the game tight.
“We just haven’t had the confidence to strike the ball the way we should, things just bouncing the wrong way. So small wins like this and getting three goals this game are going to help us score more,” said Crandall.
Fifteen minutes into the first half, Howard scored off their first shot off the game. Sophomore Isaac Mbappe hit a low shot off a free kick, burying it in the far right corner.
Once Howard earned the go-ahead goal, Longwood intensified from their previously casual pace, feeling the pressure to finish their shots more.
“[The intensity] was very average in the first half and then we picked it up because the result dictated that we had to,” said Atkinson.
However, by halftime, though Longwood led Howard in shots 10-2, they still trailed 1-0 on the scoreboard.
The second half saw back-and-forth scoring beginning with redshirt freshman forward Willy Miezan’s tying goal 11 minutes during the 56th minute off of an assist from fellow redshirt freshman forward Mo Jalloh. Miezan tallied his ninth goal of the season, Jalloh had his first career assist.
While Longwood was unable to finish their next four opportunities, Howard’s freshman forward Victor Guirma scored his team’s next chance that came 15 minutes after Longwood’s goal, putting Howard ahead once again.
Eight minutes later, scrambling and congestion on top of the box allowed a shot from senior midfielder Will Lambert to bounce off defenders and find the back of the net, setting the score at 2-2 causing the game to eventually go into golden goal overtime periods.
Crandall’s sixth shot of the game brought the final whistle towards the end of the second golden goal period after both sides had several close calls.
“This counts as a ‘W’ and that’s the most important thing from this,” said Atkinson.
Howard remains winless in their season as they return to Washington D.C.
The Lancers will resume conference play this Saturday, Oct. 24 against No. 3 Coastal Carolina (10-1-1, 4-1-0) who they lost to last year in both the regular season and in the Big South tournament quarterfinals.
Crandall believes the gains in confidence from Longwood’s past few wins will be the greatest takeaway going into Saturday.
Crandall said, “I think the confidence rolling over that we got this win and the last win even though there was adversity, scoring when there’s only three minutes left, I think that’s going to help us a lot going into Coastal who is an extremely strong team.”
