Junior Chris Shrum connected for two goals to lead the High Point University men's soccer team over Western Kentucky on Friday night at the Marshall Classic Tournament in Huntington, W.Va.

"It's great to get our first win of the season," said HPU head coach Dustin Fonder. "It was well deserved. It's no coincidence that our first win came at the end of the best week of practice that we've had this season."

The Panthers (1-5-1) got on the board early when freshman Scott Rojo took a pass from Justin Pruetz to the left side and shot the ball over the WKU goalkeeper's head in the opening 29 seconds of the contest.

Shrum's first goal came at the 11:26 mark. Matt Tuttle took a corner kick that was picked up by Rojo who crossed the ball inside to set-up the header from Shrum to give the Panthers a 2-0 advantage into the break.

HPU came out of the intermission strong as sophomore Hilaire Babou played the ball into the box in the 59th minute to set up Shrum for his second goal of the game. Shrum was able to make a quick turn with the ball in his possession and send it into the back of the net.

Western Kentucky's (1-4-2) Chris Davies prevented the Panther shutout in the 77th minute when Andy Mastellar picked up his own rebound and passed the ball to Davies for the score.

"If this young team can continue to improve as they have," Fonder said, "then we should be very competitive come conference time."

High Point goalkeeper Adam Ross record six saves in the game while the Hilltoppers' Kyle Schroeder had seven. WKU led with 19 shots taken to HPU's 15.

The Panthers will again play in Huntington on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 11 a.m. against Xavier University on the final day of the Marshall Classic.