Chris Archer scored twice and
Patrick Althoff added a goal and two assists to lead High Point to an impressive 4-1 win over Big South-leader Birmingham-Southern Sunday afternoon in a men's soccer battle of Panthers at Albion Millis Stadium.
High Point improves to 7-10-1 (2-4-0 in Big South play), while Birmingham-Southern drops to 9-6-0 (5-2-0).
HPU scored four unanswered goals in the 4th, 13th, 17th and 79th minutes to earn its second Big South win of the year.
BSC got on the board just 1:01 into the contest when
Douglas Eckhardt rocketed a shot into the top right-hand corner of the net past HPU keeper
Chris Michener for an early 1-0 lead. The advantage would be short-lived, though, as Archer provided an equalizer in the 4th minute to tie the score. He took a pass from
Josh Windley and beat BSC keeper
Joseph Anthony to knot the score at 1-1.
HPU took the lead for good in the 13th minute when Althoff scored from close range off assists by Archer and Windley, and went up 3-1 on Archer's team-leading 13th goal of the year, which came in the 17th minute off Althoff's first assist of the day. High Point carried a 3-1 lead to intermission.
The homestanding Panthers tacked on an insurance goal in the 79th minute when Althoff found
Gordon Smith in the box, and Smith headed it home to complete the scoring and give HPU a 4-1 victory.
Michener and
Matt Long each made four saves in goal for HPU, while Anthony stopped four shots for Birmingham-Southern, which clinched the Big South regular-season crown with a win over VMI on Saturday.
BSC held a slim 14-12 edge in shots.
Jamie Holmes and
Nick Barcelona each had a team-high three shots for the visiting Panthers.
The game was the final regular-season home contest for Michener,
Kyle De Klerk,
Kurtis Eckard,
Richard Hanson and
Gavin Moss. All five were honored before the game.
Click here to see a photo.
High Point visits Coastal Carolina Wednesday evening, while BSC travels to meet Georgia State Friday night. Both contests start at 6:00 pm and will close the regular season.
