No. 6 seed High Point fell to No. 3 Winthrop, 3-0, in the third game of the opening round of the 2007 Big South Men's Soccer Championship Thursday at Eagle Field on the campus of Winthrop University.
Winthrop took an early 1-0 lead when Daniel Revivo shot and scored at 15:26 after High Point tried to clear the ball out of its zone. It was Revivo's Big South-leading 13th goal of the season. The Eagles went ahead 2-0 at the 28:06 mark when Saidi Isaac headed in his 11th goal of the season inside the Panthers' box. Revivo and Sean Weron assisted on the score. Winthrop entered intermission with the 2-0 lead, and had the advantage in shots, 6-1.
In the second half, both teams went back and forth in each other's end, until Issac put Winthrop up 3-0 at 76:38. He dribbled around three players and put the ball in the back of the net for his second goal of the night and 12th of the year. WU goalkeeper Patrick Mitrovich made four saves and notched his fourth shutout of the season to improve his record to 10-3-1. High Point keeper Adam Ross allowed two goals, but recorded seven impressive saves that kept the Panthers in the game. HPU's Matt Tuttle paced the Panthers with two shots on goal.
The game was a rematch of last year's Big South championship game, also won 3-0 by Winthrop. The Eagles improve to 10-3-2 on the season and will make its third consecutive semifinal appearance. High Point ends its season at 5-14-1.
No. 2 seed Liberty defeated Winthrop in the regular-season, 1-0, and Friday's semifinal meeting will mark the third-straight year the two teams have met in the Conference tournament. Meanwhile, the top four seeds in the Men's Soccer Championship have advanced to semifinals for first time since 2003.
