FARMVILLE, Va. --  Rebecca Smith scored the lone goal of the match at 81:46 to lead visiting Liberty University to a 1-0 Big South Conference women’s soccer victory at Longwood University on Tuesday night at the Athletics Complex in Farmville.  Holly Van Noord had three saves while posting the shutout for the Flames (13-5-1, 8-2-1 Big South) against the host Lancers (9-8-2, 8-3 Big South), who will be the No. 3 seed for the upcoming Big South Women’s Soccer Championship.  Longwood will host No. 6 seed High Point University on Saturday night, November 2 at 7 p.m. at the Athletics Complex in Farmville.
    
“It was a very competitive and combative game tonight,” said 20th-year head coach Todd Dyer ‘93.  “The atmosphere was electric and our whole team gave a maximum effort.  It came down to a set piece and that was the difference in the game.  Now we get to host a tournament quarterfinal and our focus and motivation will be at a high level.”
    
Longwood and Liberty battled scoreless for the opening 45 minutes, as Van Noord made early saves on a pair of attempts by senior Kelsey Pardue/Richmond in the ninth and 22nd minutes, respectively.  It looked like it might remain scoreless through the second half, as well, before Brittany Aanderud hit the crossbar with a shot from about 25 yards on the set piece and Smith promptly collected the rebound and found the net in the 82nd minute.  It was the only attempt on goal all night by the Flames, and it came right after the Lancers had a scoring opportunity on a corner kick at 79:30, but the header attempt by sophomore Katie Beebe/Round Hill was knocked away by Van Noord.
    
Liberty had a 9-7 advantage in shots for the match, though Longwood led 3-1 in attempts on goal, while it was 4-1 on corner kicks for the Lancers.  Pardue had four shots, two on goal, while graduate student and goalkeeper Shelby Hall/Purcellville played the duration in front of the net with no saves.
    
Aanderud had four shots for Liberty, and Smith had two attempts, one on goal, while Van Noord played the duration in front of the net with the three saves and the shutout for the Flames, who will play as the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and host No. 7 Presbyterian on Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.
    
Longwood and Liberty were meeting for the 14th time in the sport of women’s soccer, and the Flames lead the series, 7-4-3.
    
It was a bittersweet Senior Night for Kelsey Pardue, Shelby Hall, Chelsea Walter/South Riding and Dana Wallace/Charlottesville.  The four have helped Longwood to 40 wins over the past four seasons, and hope to help the Lancers advance against High Point on Saturday night.  Longwood earned a 4-2 home win past the Panthers on October 9.

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