The High Point University women's soccer team rallied from a two-goal deficit on Sunday afternoon against Virginia Tech only to the have the Hokies notch the game winner in the 68th minute to earn a 3-2 victory at the UNCG Soccer Classic.
The Panthers (0-4) fell behind early to Tech (3-0-1) but refused to quit using solid defense, opportunistic offense and a strong performance from redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Nail to put themselves in position for the victory.
"It is disappointing to lose but I feel as though this weekend's competition will go a long way in preparing us for play in the Big South Conference," said HPU head coach Michelle Rayner. "We matched up with a pair of good ACC soccer teams this weekend and competed successfully against both of them. Hopefully our team realized that we have the talent to play with these teams. I was proud of the passion we played with. I feel like we have made adjustments and gotten better with ever game and I hope we can just continue improving."
Virginia Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead before High Point rallied to tie the game. Emily Jukich scored from six yards out off a feed from Heather Hallberg just 8:50 into the game to giving the Hokies an early 1-0 advantage. Laura Beth Puglisi flicked in a header off a throw-in by Julian Johnson, to give Virginia Tech a two-goal edge at 25:09.
High Point cut the deficit in half before the break as senior forward Traci Andersen scored her first goal of the season on a breakaway at 33:22 to get the Panthers on the scoreboard. Andersen, who had a shot careen off the goalpost minutes earlier, took a lead pass from Laura Eldridge and raced past the Virginia Tech defenders before putting the ball into the rightside of the net.
The Hokies nearly extended its lead late in the first half, missing on a point-blank opportunity as time expired, when a shot by MaryElizabeth Newton was smothered by Nail as time expired.
The score stayed that way until 52:15 when High Point's Beckie Lesh put home a rebound. The tally was Lesh's first of the season and drew the Panthers back to even.
Jukich connected on her second score of the day, her fifth of the season, with a one-time shot from 15 yards out midway through the second half (67:06) to break a 2-2 tie. Erin Moore fed the ball into the box from the left wing, where Jukich stopped the ball with her chest, then spun and hit the ball waist-high into the right corner of the goal for what wound up being the game-winner.
For the game Virginia Tech held a 17-5 advantage in shots, but Nail recorded seven saves to keep High Point within striking distance. Nail and Eldridge, who finished with a goal and an assist on the weekend, were both named to the UNCG Soccer Classic All-Tournament team.
Following a four-game road stretch to open the season, High Point next returns to action versus in-state rival Davidson in the squad's home opener on Friday at 7 p.m.
