No. 5 seed High Point University got two goals and an assist from Karra Damascus en route to defeating No. 4 seed Charleston Southern on Thursday night in the fourth game of the 2008 Big South Women's Soccer Championship at Vert Soccer Stadium on the HPU campus. The Panthers will now play No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina on Friday night at 7:00pm in the second semifinal match. The meeting between the two squads marks a rematch of last year's tournament championship contest.
Charleston Southern struck first on the scoreboard in the 23rd minute when Briana Murphy chased down a ball that deflected off the head of an HPU defender and beat Panther keeper Marisa Abbott in a one-v-one situation. The goal was the eighth of the season for Murphy.
High Point answered just two minutes later as Katie Taber served a ball into the box and connected with Damascus, who one-timed a shot into the back of the net, knotting the score at 1-1. It was the sixth goal of the year for Damascus. The two evenly matched squads went into the halftime break tied at one.
CSU recaptured the lead early in the second half (52nd minute) on a goal by Sarah Catenacci. Casey Bolduc played a pass to Catenacci at the top of the 18-yard box , who then lined a shot just under the crossbar to give the Lady Bucs a 2-1 advantage.
In the 60th minute, Taber and Damascus hooked up again to help High Point earn the equalizing goal. Sara Rager fed the ball to a streaking Taber down the left side. Taber dribbled the ball along the end line towards the goal and then slipped a pass across the front of the goal to Damascus, who pushed the ball into an open net for her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game (81:48), Damascus played a ball across the box to Laura Shupe. Shupe got a foot on a bouncing ball and slotted a shot past a diving CSU goalkeeper for the game winning score. It was the third goal of the season for Shupe.
Damascus and Shupe each tallied four shot attempts to pace the Panther offense, while CSU got three shots apiece from both Catenacci and Murphy. Abbott finished the game with three saves in earning the win for HPU. Charleston Southern's Alyssa Budros also recorded three saves in a losing cause.
HPU outshot CSU 17-9 for the game including a 9-1 advantage in the first half. Both squads attempted two corner kicks in the contest.
High Point moves to 8-4-8 on the year, while Charleston Southern closes its season at 9-6-4. HPU will be making its sixth appearance in the Big South Tournament semifinals. The Panthers, which tied Coastal Carolina in the regular-season, will face the Chanticleers in the Conference tournament for the second consecutive year and the third time overall.
QUOTES
Charleston Southern Head Coach Eric Terrill
"The two teams were really closely matched. It is unfortunate that we had to play in the first round. Congratulations to High Point. It is a big win in a great environment at their place. We have played some close matches with them the last few times and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't."
High Point Head Coach Michelle Rayner
"First of all I want to say that I am very proud of this team. I thought our first half tonight was probably the best soccer we have played this season. Charleston Southern is a very good team and it took all we had to earn a victory tonight. I am thrilled with the effort and energy that we played with in this game. We did a great job of finishing our opportunities around the goal tonight."
