Lancer duo tabbed for high school all-decade honor

Published 6:00 am Friday, August 14, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A pair of Longwood University men’s soccer standouts were named high school all-decade honorees by The Free Lance-Star. Eli Carr was named to the all-decade first team, while Leif VanSlyke was a second-team honoree.

Carr was a force on offense in his high school career that saw him score 57 goals in two high school seasons at Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg. He was an all-district, all-region and all-state performer in both of his seasons, and he was named a United Soccer Coaches All-American after a monstrous senior season in which he scored a school-record 41 goals to go with 11 assists while leading his team to the state title game.

After coming to Longwood, Carr was a key cog in the Lancer attack. He made 11 appearances and started the final eight matches he played in despite a mid-season injury. Carr provides a constant threat along the edge and had a pair of assists while playing at least 50 minutes in seven of his final eight matches.

Email newsletter signup

In February, Carr also played for Puerto Rico in the 2020 CONCACAF U20 Championship Qualifiers, where he made a pair of starts.

VanSlyke notched 24 goals as a senior at Riverbend High School, in Fredericksburg, on his way to all-state and all-district honors while also being named the conference Player of the Year. He tabbed 20 regular-season goals before pegging four more in the playoffs.

For Longwood, VanSlyke was an ironman. He was one of five players to play more than 1,000 minutes, and he went the distance five times in his 15 appearances, all starts. He scored his first collegiate goal against the University of North Carolina Asheville and added an assist as well.

Carr and VanSlyke are part of a group of nine returners that started at least eight games for the Lancers in 2019, with 16 newcomers joining the team for the upcoming season.