The High Point University women's soccer team rallied with a pair of late goals to force overtime then completed the comeback to earn a 4-3 victory in their Big South Conference opener on Sunday at Coastal Carolina.
The Panthers (6-3-0, 1-0-0 Big South) posted their second win in as many days with the impressive come-from-behind road victory over the Lady Chanticleers (7-3-0, 0-2-0 Big South). HPU defeated South Carolina State, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon in a rare consecutive day matches stretch. Sunday's game was the seventh in a month-long road swing for the Panthers.
"I could not be any prouder of this team after today's performance," said HPU first-year head coach Michelle Rayner. "This team played with a great deal of heart especially having to play back-to-back days and rally from a two goal deficit. It was a complete and solid team effort. Hopefully this is the kind of win that gives this team the confidence it will need in some future games."
High Point got on the board quickly taking a 1-0 lead just 14 seconds into play when junior Traci Andersen found the back of the net from 10 yards out for her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Coastal answered back in the 23rd minute (22:02) as Blair Monroe notched the first of her two goals on the day off an assist from teammate Bobbie Parsons. The scored was knotted 1-1 at halftime.
Monroe tallied her second goal just six minutes into play in the second half (51:17) to give CCU a 2-1 advantage. Parsons then put the Lady Chants up 3-1 with a score at the 78:52 mark off a pass from Stepheney Gerhardt, who also assisted on Monroe's second score.
With eight minutes left in regulation, Gaby McLaughlin posted her first goal of the year (82:06) off a cross from Renee Hitchcock to close the deficit to one at 3-2. Then HPU's Beckie Lesh collected her own rebound off the crossbar and beat Coastal's keeper with just over a minute to play (88:46) to even the score at three and force overtime.
In the 96th minute, Andersen was taken down in the box by a Coastal defender setting up a penalty kick opportunity which sophomore Karolina Straby deposited in the right corner for the golden goal.
The Panthers held a slim 13-12 edge in total shots and also earned an 8-3 advantage in corner-kicks. For the game, HPU goalkeeper Erica Brockmyer recorded one save en route to her fourth win of the year.
High Point gets a brief reprieve from its road slate on Wednesday when the Panthers play host to Big South foe Radford at 5 p.m. in a HPU soccer doubleheader with the men following at 7 p.m. against Winthrop. The match will be High Point's first home appearance since defeating the Citadel on Aug. 28.
