Mark Gilbert scored his first-career goal in the 65th minute of play to help the Panthers to a tie with host Liberty, 1-1, in the Big South opener for both teams Tuesday night in Lynchburg.

HPU now stands at 0-3-1 on the season and 0-0-1 in the Big South.

Gilbert, a freshman from Southlake, Texas, pushed an unassisted shot past Liberty keeper Patrick Heery to tie the score at 1-1. The Flames (2-1-1, 0-0-1 Big South) had gotten a 12th minute goal from Darryl Roberts to take a 1-0 lead.

The teams played a pair of 10-minute, sudden-death overtime periods, but neither could find the net.

Panther keeper Eric Lona made eight saves.

"It was a typical, hard-fought conference game," HPU head coach Peter Broadley said. "We did very well to get ourselves back into it, especially since this was our third game in six days.

"It was a good team performance, and I'm proud that we were able to battle back from behind and almost get a win."

High Point faces Charleston Southern Saturday night at Albion-Millis Stadium.