Sean Sassano scored the only goal of the game in the 49th minute and Appalachian State held off a High Point charge for a 1-0 victory Wednesday night in men's soccer action at Albion Millis Stadium.
The Panthers suffered their first home loss of the season and dropped to 3-2-0, while the Mountaineers improved to 2-2-0.
High Point held the edge in shots (12-9), shots on goal (6-4) and corner kicks (4-2), but was unable to come up with a tying goal.
"We played well enough to win, but the bottom line is you have to score goals to win games," HPU head coach Peter Broadley said. "So far this season our trademark has been scoring goals, and scoring them early in the game."
The Panthers were shut out for the first time this season. Appalachian State goalkeeper Philip Cavicchia made three saves, but perhaps the biggest two saves of the night were made by ASU defenders Stephen Smith (in the 21st minute) and Tate Parrish (in the 90th minute) to push away Panther scoring chances.
"Credit Appalachian State -- they defended their tails off," Broadley said. "It was a great effort on their part. They were defending for most of the game."
High Point nearly scored in the 20th minute when Chris Archer drew Cavicchia out of the goal and launched a shot that Smith blocked away. Each team had two shots in a scoreless first half.
The Mountaineers broke through for the game's lone goal shortly after halftime. Keon McPherson served up a solid free kick into the box to Sassano, who laced a shot into the top-right corner of the net.
HPU pushed hard for the equalizer. Cavicchia made a nice save on Luke Lemanski's free kick in the 53rd minute, and Carter Parrish blocked a scoring opportunity for Kevin Balkanloo in the 71st minute. But High Point's best chance to tie the game came in the 90th minute when Richard Hanson got past Cavicchia into the box and rocketed a shot toward the empty goal, but Tate Parrish slid and kicked the ball away just before it would have crossed the goal line.
Matt Long made three saves in net for High Point. Archer and Lemanski each had a team-high three saves for the Panthers.
"We certainly had our chances, but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net," Broadley said.
The Panthers host UNC Asheville in their Big South Conference opener next Wednesday at 7:00 pm. ASU welcomes Longwood to Boone for a 2:00 pm kickoff on Sunday.
