FARMVILLE, VA. – Markus Gronli scored twice and assisted on another goal to lift Longwood to a 3-0 win over visiting Campbell Wednesday night and help the Lancers secure a spot in the Big South Championship tournament.
Campbell (7-8-2, 4-3-1) outshot the hosts by a 23-15 margin, but could not find the net. Still, the Camels will take the fourth seed into the league tourney and host fifth-seeded Gardner-Webb on Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
"We didn't take our chances tonight; they capitalized on theirs, and that was the difference," said Campbell head coach
Dustin Fonder. "We have a lot of things to work on before we play Sunday against Gardner-Webb."
Regular season champion High Point (22 points) and second seed Radford (15) will receive a first-round tournament bye and host semifinal games next Wednesday (Nov. 7).
After suffering a 1-0 OT loss Oct. 6 at Radford, Presbyterian will be seeded third and host Longwood Sunday. The Lancers earned the final spot due to a quality wins tiebreaker with USC Upstate. Longwood and the Spartans drew 2-2 earlier this year.
"We're in the tournament; that's the good news, but we just made it harder on ourselves," said Fonder. "Our challenge now is to fight back, win three games in November and hopefully punch our ticket."
Gronli set up Willy Miezan's sixth goal of the year in the 39th minute.
Just over 11 minutes into the second period, Gronli doubled the Longwood lead.
Camel keeper kept the lead at two in the 65th minute when he charged off his line for a save when Miezan got behind the CU back four.
Campbell nearly drew one back in the 68th minute on
JJ Donnelly's sharp header off a
Josh Signey corner kick, but Jacob Reimers was in place for the save.
In the 68th minute
Alex Egeonu dribbled into the Longwood area and slid a pass to Donnelly at the back post. The senior striker's shot beat Reimers, but not defender Jonas Kalchner, who cleared the ball off the line.
Gronli completed his night in the 73rd minute with his fourth goal of the season on a left-footed shot from the top of the box that took a deflection off a Camel defender and landed inside of Lechuga's left post.
Campbell seemingly scored in the 82nd minute, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside flag.
Reimers made eight saves in the Longwood nets, while Lechuga finished with five stops for the Camels.
Soccer Game Summary (Final)
2018 Campbell Men's Soccer
Campbell vs Longwood (Oct 31, 2018 at Farmville, Va.)
Campbell (7-8-2, 4-3-1 BSC) vs. Longwood (5-12-1, 3-4-1 BSC)
Date: Oct 31, 2018 Attendance: 227
Weather: 70 degrees, sunny
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
-------------------------------
Campbell............ 0 0 - 0
Longwood............ 1 2 - 3
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 38:58 LWU MIEZAN, Willy (6) (GRONLI, Markus) - Cross from 18, finish from 11
2. 56:16 LWU GRONLI, Markus (3) (ABANDO, Mikel) - Pass from 14 to top of left box, finished by 18 near post
3. 72:24 LWU GRONLI, Markus (4) (JAQUIER, Jeremy) - Cross from 10, finish with 18
Shots: Campbell 23, Longwood 15
Saves: Campbell 5 (LECHUGA, Samuel 5), Longwood 9 (REIMERS, Jacob 8;
TEAM 1)
Big South Men's Soccer Championship
Sunday, Nov. 4
First Round
5th seed Gardner-Webb (4-10-1, 4-4-0) at 4th seed Campbell (7-8-2, 4-3-1) | 6 pm
6th seed Longwood (5-12-1, 3-4-1) at 3rd seed Presbyterian (6-11-0, 5-3-0) | 6 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 7
Semifinals
Gardner-Webb/Campbell winner at 1st seed High Point (13-2-1, 7-0-1) | 7 pm
Longwood/Presbyterian winner at 2nd seed Radford (7-8-0, 5-3-0) | 7 pm
Sunday, Nov. 11
Championship
Semifinal winners (at highest remaining seed) | 2 pm
