Can We Call It a Rivalry Now?
Longwood just dominated Radford yesterday in front of a packed house…it’s that simple. The win was great, but the biggest impact of yesterday’s game has to be the rivalry Longwood solidified with the Highlanders that will likely last a long, long time.
Plenty of people consider Liberty to be the Lancers top rival. Liberty is convenient its only an hour away and they actually signed up to play Longwood with home and home series a good bit the past ten years. Radford, on the other hand, strayed away from playing the Lancers.
Obviously, as an institution, Radford is a lot more similar to Longwood than Liberty is. Chances are you know plenty of people from high school or just life in general who went to Radford, while that’s likely not the case with the other LU.
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While Longwood has historically dominated Liberty, the opposite is true of Radford. Longwood is just 5–13 all-time against the Highlanders, but only three of those games have come in the Division I era. Obviously, Longwood split with Radford this year and their only other meeting came in 2004 when Longwood loss by 10.
Liberty is likely on the way out of the Big South and will have no incentive to play the Lancers. Radford will be here for the long haul though.
We knew joining the Big South would ignite new rivalries but I don’t think anyone would’ve expected the Longwood-Radford rivalry to catch fire so fast. Sure, the fight at Radford acted as a bit of a catalyst, but I’ve never seen as many visiting fans in Willett as I did yesterday (which is good for everyone).
Lancer fans have been deprived of a rival for years but they finally have one in Radford. I can’t wait to see these two teams play again and I’m sure both teams would echo that sentiment.
