The High Point women's soccer team dropped a tough 4-0 decision at Birmingham-Southern on Saturday night in their Big South Conference road opener.

The Panthers (1-8-0, 1-1-0 Big South) struggled to find an offensive flow against BSC (3-6-0, 1-1-0 Big South). Birmingham held a 18-7 edge in shot attempts including a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal.

The two squads battled through an even contest for much of the opening period until BSC got on the board in the closing minutes. Jess Smith scored an unassisted goal at 43:13 to give the Black & Gold Panthers a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Birmingham-Southern quickly widened their advantage in the second half as Patricia George scored at 48:20 to put her team in front 2-0 less than five minutes into play. Just over seven minutes later (55:46), Anne McIntyre converted a pass from Caitlin Gordon to give BSC a 3-0 advantage.

Whitney Medlen notched a final score for BSC in the closing minutes of play scoring a goal in the 88th minute (87:21) for the final margin.

"We can have all the talent in the world and know how to play the game," said HPU head coach Michelle Rayner. "But, until we play with the heart and passion required to play this game and do so each time we step on the field then we will continue to struggle. Each player needs to look inside themselves and find out quickly what it is going to take for them to accomplish this."

Freshman Marisa Abbott took the loss in goal for High Point stopping six shots while allowing four scores. Brittany Green recorded a pair of saves in earning the win for Birmingham while Ruth Hanks added a save for BSC in the second half.

Beckie Lesh and Traci Andersen paced the HPU offense with two shot attempts each.

High Point will continue its current Big South road swing on Wednesday when the Panthers travel to Liberty to face the Flames at 4 p.m.