Last year, the Lancers reached the tournament with a late goal from Dan Campos in their final regular season thriller against Liberty University, launching them into a postseason run that took them to the conference championship for the first time in their Big South history.
This season, though Longwood men’s soccer sought to control their fate in Saturday’s game against Gardner-Webb, the team ultimately came up short after the Runnin’ Bulldogs tucked away two second half goals. With the 2-1 loss, the Lancers lost their chance to redeem themselves after their heartbreaking defeat in the final round of the 2016 tournament.
Longwood Men’s Soccer Head Coach Jon Atkinson said though the season hasn’t been disappointing, it has been frustrating. He believed if the team was fully healthy, then some of the results would have turned out differently.
“If we had a fully healthy squad, I think we might’ve saw some differences as the season progressed,” said Atkinson.
Two key player makers in redshirt junior forward Willy Miezan and sophomore forward Max Poelker were sidelined due to injury.
In Miezan’s first year with the Lancers, he scored 13 goals, the second-most in the conference and top 10 in the nation. At the start of the season, Miezan looked to bounce back from his 2016 ACL tear, however he tore his ACL again and was forced to sit out for another season.
As a freshman, Poelker had seven goals but he struggled this year, only netting one goal before the 2016 Big South All-Freshman selection broke his foot in the 4-3 loss against Campbell, the fourth conference game of the season.
In addition to their Big South opponents, the Lancers faced some of the top programs in the country, including Virginia Tech, NC State, former No. 9 UNC Wilmington and No. 2 Wake Forest.
“As the season bore on without the results coming through, it did knock the confidence of the boys,” said Atkinson.
The head coach said he planned a tougher schedule in order to take an “iron sharpens iron” approach. He said by playing harder opponents, the competition would elevate their play when conference play arrived.
After the Lancers play their final match of 2017, the team will lose seven seniors: midfielder Dan Campos, defender Marten Pajunurm, defender Tom Devitt, defender Chad Kozoyed, defender Vaughn Fowler and midfielder Eoin O’Donovan. The class will be honored before the senior day match against High Point.
For All-Big South first team selection, Campos, his last season was statistically different with just one goal and two assists going into his senior day match. The year before, he scored four goals, had twelve assists and ranked fourth in the country in assists per game.
“I can’t say it’s gone well, it hasn’t, but to save time I’m not ashamed about it at the same time,” said Campos.
The Norwegian captain said the team’s victory in last year’s Big South semifinal was his favorite moment of his career. After this season, Campos said he plans to return to Norway at first because he will have completed his degree at the end of this semester, but is not sure if soccer is in his future.
“Obviously if something pops up or comes up that’s interesting, I’m not going to say no,” said Campos.
Looking at the team’s future, sophomore goalkeeper Lance DaSilva and junior midfielder Josh Hanratty said they expect to take on more leadership.
This year marked DaSilva’s first full season in goal after the graduation of 2016 All-Big South tournament team selection Carlos Canas. The Fredericksburg native said he thought he played solid in the starting role and improved as the season went on.
In the majority of games, DaSilva allowed no more than two goals per game, accumulating 65 saves going into the final game with a career high eight saves against Winthrop.
When asked what advice he would give himself at the beginning of this season, he said, “Taking a bigger role in communication and leadership part earlier on the field.”
After transferring from UNC Pembroke, Hanratty finished his first season with the Lancers with hope to improve next year, carrying a goal and an assist to his name before the final game.
“It was somewhat of a success but collectively it wasn’t the most ideal season result wise,” he said. “But individually looking at my performances, I’ve been satisfied.”
He said he believes if they collectively buy into the stuff they are doing, he is confident they can be successful.
The men’s soccer team will look to finish the season strong on Wednesday, Nov. 1 against High Point and send their seniors off with one final victory at home in Farmville.
Senior midfielder Dan Campos will be honored at senior night alongside seven of his teammates, including defenders Marten Pajunurm and Tom Devitt, before the final game of the 2017 season against High Point on Nov. 1.
