Todd Dyer was hired as the women’s head soccer coach after graduating from Longwood in 1993. Now in his 24th year, there is still one thing his teams have yet to do: win the Big South championship.
“We’re not going to hide from that, we want to win it. Period," said Dyer.
In their five seasons as a member of the Big South, Longwood has qualified for the postseason four times and made the semifinals twice, including last season.
They have never made it to the Big South championship.
The first half of the season looked promising for the Lancers, finishing non-conference play with a 5-3-1 record, second-best in the Big South.
The first conference match of the season on Sept. 23 against High Point – the same team who eliminated the Lancers in the Big South semifinals a year ago – ended in a devastating 1-0 loss. High Point’s lone goal came 15 minutes into the game by way of a penalty kick.
“I thought we played well enough to win, we were just a little unlucky with the penalty that was called,” said Dyer. “We didn’t finish some of the chances that we created, but I think we’re where we need to be … We were right there with them.”
The defeat by the Panthers handed Longwood their fourth loss of the season.
Dyer praised the Lancers defense as the strongest aspect of the team, noting the exceptional performances thus far by junior defender Sydney Wallace, and senior goalkeeper Maria Kirby.
Their defense has allowed only seven goals against, the fewest in the Big South.
On the offensive side, Dyer said, every time that the Lancers have scored at least one goal, they came out with either a win or a tie.
With only eight goals in ten games, the team needs to find a spark on offense.
“We’re very good defensively, but there’s been four games where we were shut out, two of them on our home field. So if you’re not perfect defensively, it’s going to work against you, and it has,” Dyer said.
Although the team's still searching on the attack, Dyer noted a few play makers run their midfield together, including senior midfielder Janese Quick and junior midfielder/forward Kathryn Miller.
The Lancers have seen contributions from new players early in the season who look to translate those efforts into the critical stretch of conference games ahead of them.
Dyer uses the non-conference schedule to help these players transition comfortably to the high-pressure meaningful games.
“Some players handle it a little bit better than others, some start to feel a little bit more pressure,” he said. “We try to use our non-conference schedule to really test us and see where we’re at before we go into league play.”
With eight regular season games left and the postseason ahead of them, the Lancers are trying to do what they’ve never done before: bring home their first-ever Big South championship.
“We want to lift the trophy. We want to be special. I’d say we’re unique right now … but we’re not special yet. That’s what we’re working on,” said Dyer.
The Lancers returned to their winning ways after they traveled to Rock Hill, South Carolina, defeating the Winthrop Eagles 2-0 on Wednesday. The team will look to maintain the energy into their next South Carolina competitor in Presbyterian College in Clinton on Saturday, Sept. 30.
