High Point took No. 1-ranked UNC Greensboro into overtime Wednesday night, but the Spartans got a golden-goal in the 95th minute from Scott Jones to escape with a 3-2 victory in Greensboro.

The Spartans remain the nation's lone unbeaten team (15-0-1), while the Panthers came up just short and fall to 6-10-1 while playing their fifth-straight overtime contest.

Gordon Smith and Chris Archer scored for the Panthers. Chris Michener made six saves in goal for HPU.

"It was a superb team performance," HPU head coach  Peter Broadley said. "It's a shame to lose in overtime after such a gutsy effort, though."

In a battle between two local foes (their campuses are located just 15 miles apart), High Point took a 1-0 lead when Smith tallied an unassisted goal (his second of the year) at the 27:01 mark. The Panthers stayed ahead until the Spartans countered with an unassisted goal of their own in the 40th minute by James Goodman.

The teams went to intermission tied 1-1, but the Panthers came inches from re-gaining the lead in the 48th minute when an Archer shot hit the post.

UNCG took its first lead of the match in the 58th minute when Randi Patterson found the net off assists from Egill Atlason and Matt Smith. But the lead would be short-lived, as Archer knotted things up less than two minutes later with his team-leading 11th-goal of the year for a 2-2 stalemate. He scored off a corner kick from 10 yards out.

Both teams pushed for the winning goal, but neither came up with a tally in regulation, sending the match to extra time.

UNCG broke through and got the game winner from Jones off a Patterson assist at the 94:56 mark of the first overtime period. Jones took the pass and blasted a shot from six yards away past Michener for the golden goal.

"It was great to be in the lead, and then a great effort to come back and tie it up," Broadley said. "Michener had a superb night in goal with some great saves."

The Panthers battled the nation's top-ranked squad tooth-and-nail. UNCG held a 17-9 edge in shots and a slim 9-7 advantage in corner kicks. Jay Benfield made two saves in goal for the Spartans.

"Kyle De Klerk and Richard Hanson played well in the back line, and Alex Thompson and Brindon Hall had good efforts in the midfield," Broadley said. "Gordon came off the bench and gave us a goal, and Chris continues to score at key times for us.

"Hopefully at least we can build on this performance and carry the momentum into our final two conference games this week."

HPU returns home for its final regular-season contest of the season Sunday afternoon against Big South Conference foe Birmingham-Southern at Albion Millis Stadium (2:00 pm). Panther seniors De Klerk, Hanson, Michener and Gavin Moss will be honored before the game.