The No. 8 seeded High Point Panthers knocked out top-seeded UNC Asheville   2-0 in the opening match of the 2001 Big South Conference men's soccer championships being played at Winthrop University's Eagle Field.

High Point's victory marked the second consecutive year that a No. 8 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The victory sends High Point (7-10-2) into Friday afternoon's semi-finals against the winner of the No. 4 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 5 Radford match. Time for that match will be 3:00 p.m. UNCA, which compiled a 5-2 Big South regular season record, ends its season with a 9-8 overall mark.

John Sitaridis scored High Point's first goal at the 12:18 mark on an unassisted shot following a deflection. The goal wa Sitardidis' eighth of the year. Then with less than five minutes remaining in the match, Aaron Andree connected on his first goal of the year to give the Panthers the clinching goal as he scored unassisted on a blast from the left side of the six-yard box.

High Point made good on half of its shots on goal while UNCA failed to connect in five shots.