High Point burst out of the gate and burned host East Carolina with four first-half goals en route to a 5-3 win over the Pirates Wednesday afternoon at a soggy Bunting Field in Greenville.

The Panthers improve to 2-0-0 on the season, while ECU drops to 1-2-0.

Patrick Althoff and Blake Roth each tallied a goal and an assist for High Point.

"This was a great performance on the road for us," HPU head coach Peter Broadley said. "We beat a Conference USA team today that was very strong last year in what many people consider a very difficult place to play."

HPU got on the board first in the 8th minute of play when Luke Lemanski beat ECU keeper Chris Hicks following an Althoff corner kick. The Panthers took a 2-0 advantage on a 13th-minute header by Richard Hanson off a Roth throw-in, and made it 3-0 moments later when Althoff headed in a cross from Josh Windley.

The Pirates cut the deficit to 3-1 in the 19th minute on the first of Terron Amos' two goals, but the Panthers would take a 4-1 lead to halftime after Roth's throw-in from the sideline near the 18-yard box rolled through Hicks' hands and into the net in the 43rd minute.

"We had an absolutely blistering first half," Broadley said. "We came out of the starting blocks and pounded our opponent for the second-straight game, which I think is a very good sign."

Following Amos' score in the 59th minute to cut the Panther advantage to 4-2, Chris Archer scored his first goal of the season in the 89th minute off an assist from Cole Atkins. Archer beat new ECU goalkeeper Brian Pope in a 1-on-1 chance to make it 5-2.

Less than a minute later, the Pirates completed the scoring with a score from Paul Neimeister on J.W. Gallagher's second assist of the game.

Matt Long made two saves to earn his second win of the season in goal for the Panthers, who trailed in shots, 11-9, but cruised to victory.

The Panthers now lead the all-time series between the in-state rivals, 4-3.

"Overall, I'm very pleased," Broadley said. "This was a really good team performance for us. Blake Roth had a tremendous game from his right fullback position and was a huge factor offensively."

High Point makes its first-ever trip as a Division I program to the state of New York this weekend. The Panthers visit Niagara on Saturday (2:30 pm) before a Sunday game against Canisius (11:00 am).