For the third time in their nine seasons of play in the Big South Conference, the High Point University women's soccer team will battle for a league title after defeating UNC Asheville 1-0 on Friday night to advance to the championship game against top-seeded Coastal Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m.
High Point, who also appeared in the 2003 and 2004 title games, got a late goal from freshman forward Sara Rager and made it stand up with solid defense down the stretch. HPU improves to 11-7-2 on the year with the win while Asheville closes their season with a 4-14-0 record.
"It was a tough battle against a very competitive UNC Asheville squad tonight," said HPU head coach Michelle Rayner, who improves to 2-2 all-time in Big South Tournament play. "I want to give them lots of credit for playing a tremendous match. Fortunately for us the result turned out very similar to our match on Thursday with our team finding a way to earn the victory. I am very proud of my team tonight. They were resilient and made a commitment to finish the season strong. We have a tough team ahead of us in Coastal Carolina, but we are looking forward to playing against them with a chance to do something very special."
Both teams battled back and forth through the opening-half of the game, but neither team was able to make a mark on the scoreboard. High Point owned a 12-3 shot advantage at the end of the half, while tallying five corner kicks to Asheville's none. Bulldog goalkeeper, Veronica Lazar notched four saves and High Point keeper Hannah Nail posted one.
The Panthers dominated the offensive play during the second half, but were unable to record a finish until the 80th minute when Rager struck for the game's only tally. Junior Renee Hitchcock lifted a ball up in the air in the box where Rager headed the ball backwards into the net for the game winner. The freshman has scored all of High Point's goals this tournament, and now leads all players in scoring for this year's Big South Tournament. The goal was her team-leading eighth this season.
High Point finished the contest with 20 scoring opportunities and nine corner kicks to UNC Asheville's 8 shots and one corner. Nail earned her second shut out of the season by recording a pair of saves while Lazar ended the night with seven stops.
HPU lost their regular season meeting at Coastal Carolina on Oct. 8, 6-1, but the Panthers are 1-0 versus the Chanticleers in Big South Tournament play. High Point captured the 2003 title by defeating Asheville in penalty kicks and then lost in penalty kicks to Birmingham-Southern in 2004, which was the last time the league championship was held at Blackbaun Stadium.
The winner of Sunday's championship game will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field with play scheduled to begin on Nov. 16.
