FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 2-0 women’s soccer victory past Howard University of the Great West Conference Sunday night at the Athletics Complex in Farmville.  Junior Nikki Glisson|Mechanicsville (Hanover) scored the game-winning goal in the 57th minute for the Lancers (1-0-1), and redshirt-senior Alex Myers|Stafford (Colonial Forge) added an insurance goal in the 88th minute.  The contest was played before a record-crowd of 1,839 in a match designated The GAME 2.0 (Greatest Athletics March Ever) that included tailgating, a pep rally introducing the school’s new Mascot, and a march from campus to the soccer facility prior to the opening kick against the visiting Bison (0-2-0).  Longwood will play again on Thursday night, August 25, on the road at Elon University of the Southern Conference in Elon, North Carolina beginning at 7 p.m.
    
Longwood and Howard were scoreless through the opening 45 minutes in front of the boisterous crowd of 1,839, the largest to ever witness a fall sporting event at Longwood University.  The Lancers took a 7-0 advantage in shots during the first half, including 3-0 in attempts on-goal.  Longwood continued to control the action in the second half, and took the lead when Glisson worked her way through traffic on the right side of the box before beating the keeper with her shot to the lower left corner of the net at 56:32.  The Lancers kept pressuring the Bison and Myers made it 2-0 at 87:15 when she took a nice pass in front of the net from junior captain Lindsey Ottavio|Fairfax (W.T. Woodson) and fired a shot to the left corner again.  Ottavio had battled through heavy traffic on the left side of the box before dropping her assist to Myers.
    
“Today’s event was such a positive spectacle for Longwood University and the community,” said head coach Todd Dyer ‘93.  “We’re just happy that we were able to hold-up our end of the bargain on the field and get the victory.
    
“Howard was organized and defended really deep.  I thought we forced the issue a little too much in the first half, but we settled down in the second half, held our composure and the goals came there in the end.
    
“We’re just happy to be a part of an event like this, and all of the build-up to it with such tremendous support from so many people.”
    
Longwood took a 17-1 advantage in shots, including 7-0 in attempts on-goal, and the Lancers had a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.  Myers registered two shots, both on-goal, while freshman Samantha Phillips|Chesapeake (Grassfield) had four shots, and senior captain Kacie Oliver|Portsmouth, R.I. (Portsmouth) added three shots.  Junior keeper Kyra Byron|Richmond (Mills E. Godwin) played the duration in front of the net for Longwood while posting her second consecutive shutout.  Chanel Bell played the duration for Howard with five saves, while Nia Walcott had the only shot for the Bison.
    
Longwood now leads the all-time series against Howard at 11-2, including two-straight home wins in the series.
    
Longwood introduced its new mascot at both the pregame pep rally and again at halftime of the match, presenting a well-received strong, muscular-appearing ‘Horse’ character that plays on the Lancer logo while connecting to a part of the school’s culture and history as well.

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