FLEMING ISLAND - Most soccer players remember a goal-scoring shot as their most memorable play, but for Longwood University soccer ace Janese Quick, the big play was a corner kick that wound up fueling a higher conference seed last year.

“We were in overtime and setting up for a corner kick in a final conference game before our Big South Conference tournament,” said Quick, a Fleming Island High School graduate and now a senior at Longwood, located in the Virginia area. “I hit my corner shot and one of our players headed the ball in to end the game right there. It was pretty chaotic after that.”

Quick corner kick wound up beating Presbyterian 1-0 in their final regular season game, their seventh straight win and a second consecutive shutout to end the season. The win gave the Lancers a first round conference tournament game against Gardner Webb College, the fourth seed. Longwood would win in another overtime match with a 4-2 shootout win after regulation time ended at 0-0. In the conference semifinal, Longwood face top-seed High Point and lost 1-0, also in overtime.

Quick was instrumental in a four year Final Four playoff run for the Golden Eagles including the 2014 Class 4A finals where they eventually lost to Melbourne 2-1 in double overtime. In their 2012 region final against Niceville, Quick delivered a gamewinning corner kick to teammate Sara Urbano to put Fleming Island into the Final Four where George Jenkins won 1-0 in the state semifinal. In 2013, Fleming Island returned to the state semifinal only to lose to Jenkins again, this time in overtime. In 2011, Fleming Island made the state semifinals, but lost to St. Thomas Aquinas. Members of those four Fleming Island teams; Quick, Mikayla Olson, Taylor North, Emily Cooksey, Abby Austin and Kennedy Singleton all have college experience and have also played for the Florida SOL team.

On Fri., July 7, the Florida SOL won 3-0 over Florida Gulf Coast Dutch Lions FC, but in a match scheduled for Sun., July 9 against the Florida Krush, rain cancelled the match. Florida SOL finished at 3-4 for the season with a sixth place finish in the Sunshine Division.

“It’s great to have seen those players even after high school,” said Quick. “I’m thinking my college soccer days will be done after this year so I can start my professional career. I’m glad I have the opportunity to play college soccer.”

Quick, a midfield defender for the Lancers, returned home for the summer to play games for the Clay County-based Florida SOL FC womens soccer team at the Clay County Soccer Complex in Eagle Harbor. The Florida SOL team, coached by Wale Leyumi and Luis Torres, is part of the Womens’ Professional Soccer League and features a gathering of elite incoming young players from area high schools plus college level players also from area high schools including such notables as U.S. Olympian Morgan Brian, Seattle Reign pro Carson Pickett, also an NCAA champion for Florida State University and locals Autumn Woodard of Ridgeview High School, Annie Bobbitt of St. Johns Country Day School and the University of Florida and Brianna LaFontant, a recent graduate of Wofford College and a Ridgeview High standout.

“The value of the Florida SOL team is, first, being able to get game time with elite players from around the country,” said Quick, who, during one summer season, played against the Florida SOL as a member of a Tampa-based team. “You just can’t replicate game situations with ordinary summer training and conditioning programs. It’s very competitive and the players are coming in just after finishing their spring seasons so they are in great shape.”

Torres, the director of the Florida SOL FC program for nearly a decade, concurred that the program offers top-level playing time for college athletes, but that those same college commitments, plus summer jobs and traveling for the players, makes the season and game play unpredictable.

“The girls come in and play as much as they can, but jobs, travel and college commitments keep the roster changing all summer,” said Torres. “Still, we have had some great players come through here in Clay County.”

Quick returns to Longwood as last year’s top scorer for the Lancers with four goals and two assists for 10 points with 31 shots on goal.

“I got there as a defender, but they put me at the midfield spot and gave me chances to take shots,” said Quick, who has an older sister, Justine, who played at St. Johns Country Day School and the University of Central Florida. “We keep getting closer and closer to the conference title and should have a good group of new players this year.”

Longwood finished 8-10-2 overall, but 7-2-0 at home. The 2017 season is set to open August 18 at Richmond University after an exhibition game against Old Dominion University on August 8.