In an overcast afternoon in Farmville, Longwood men’s soccer took down the Navy Midshipmen 2-1 to claim their first win of the season and boost their record to 1-2-1. A crowd of around 200 people saw the Lancers score a late winner to boost morale before Big South play starts in two weeks.
Longwood men’s soccer returned to Farmville to play Navy on Saturday, November 7. The Lancers fell 2-0 to William and Mary on Wednesday and were still without a win in 2024. Coach Paul Gilbert’s Lancers started the game lively and looked more likely to score than the Midshipmen. Their efforts were finally rewarded when Ethan Stevenson got his head on the end of a Mikey Hernandez cross to put the Lancers in front. The rest of the first half went by without too many chances for either side.
Rain started to fall as the second half kicked off. The Midshipmen pushed the Lancers deep into their own half and had the momentum throughout the opening minutes of the second half. Navy got what their play deserved and grabbed an equalizer through a deflection right in front of goal. In a chippy second half, Left Back Asrthid Kamdjin curled in a low shot in the bottom corner to re-establish the Longwood lead in the 79th minute. Navy threw everything they had at the Lancers but could not respond. Longwood would emerge 2-1 victors in a game which flipped back-and-forth throughout.
Ethan Stevenson, a transfer from Winthrop, grabbed his second goal of the season and assisted Kamdjin on the game deciding tally in the second half. “A draw wasn’t going to be good enough for us, so we went for it in those last few minutes,” Stevenson said. Defensive midfielder Valentin Brandis was everywhere for the Longwood back line, as he not only got a secondary assist on Stevenson’s goal, but his general play was what the Lancers needed. “He’s been playing 20-30 minutes per game,” Gilbert said of Brandis, “For us, he was one of those guys in training and the time he had in games was proving himself time and time again.”
Relief was apparent on the faces of the players and coaching staff when the result went their way. “It’s a really good feeling, I think we really needed that…we didn’t have the results [we wanted] in the first games, even though certain phases of the games were really good,” said Brandis. This game was also a milestone for Gilbert, as it was his first win as Lancer head coach. “I’m happy…I’ve won a lot of games before, I’ve lost a lot of games before,” said Gilbert. “It’s more about the process and how we went about winning today.”
Though the Lancers did not get off to a roaring start of the season, a good team win will always help in a multitude of ways. “The atmosphere right now is super good. Everybody’s involved, everybody’s pushing and today is evidence of that,” stated Brandis. Longwood men’s soccer will return to action on Tuesday, September 10 to take UNC Greensboro away in North Carolina.
