University of North Florida
Longwood
Men's Soccer Begins Road Swing at Longwood
9/2/2011 8:56:00 PM | Men's Soccer
North Florida (0-1-0) enters the match after dropping the season opener to Georgia Southern (L, 0-5) at Hodges Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 27. The Lancers enter the match with an even 1-1-0 record after besting Randolph, 2-0, and falling to Liberty, 3-1.
The two teams enter the match with the all-time series knotted at 2-2-0. Longwood claimed the first two matches in the series with North Florida winning the last two. Longwood won the only meeting between the two teams in Farmville.
Last season, Ricky Lawrence's first half goal was all the University of North Florida men's soccer team needed handing Longwood, 1-0, loss in Jacksonville.
UNF controlled much of the action in the first half but didn't have much to show for their strong effort until late in the opening half when Lawrence put the ball in the net giving the Ospreys a 1-0 advantage. The goal came as a result of strong pressure by the North Florida attackers on the Longwood backline in the closing minutes of the period.
As the Lancers attempted to play a ball back to their goalkeeper, Lawrence intercepted the pass, dribble around the diving keeper and carried the ball easily into an open net.
The two squads battled back-and-forth in the second half as both teams turned up the intensity on both ends of the field. Longwood nearly collected the equalizing score midway through the period as a long lead pass drew the UNF goaltender off his line. The Lancer attacker appeared to have a open shot into the open net but the keeper scrambled back into the play, diving and swatting away a ball as it bounced toward the goal.
Minutes later, Lawrence collected a long pass and found himself in a 1-v-1 situation with Lancer netminder Joel Helmick, who charged off his line and smothered the ball as the UNF attacker started to make his move.
The Osprey defense stiffened over the final 15 minutes of play to secure the victory.
