After a scoreless first half of play, a young High Point University women's soccer team showed its youth allowing a pair of early second half goals in a 3-0 loss to a veteran Old Dominion squad on Friday night in the season opening game at Vert Track & Soccer Stadium.
Five freshmen made their collegiate debuts against ODU including starting goalkeeper Kendra Edwards, while five other freshmen also earned their first career playing time at HPU.
Despite being outshot 12-3 in the first half, High Point was able to head into the locker room at halftime tied at zero behind five saves from Edwards. The HPU rookie netminder finished the contest with eight saves including a stop of a second half penalty kick by the Lady Monarchs.
"We played a very solid opening five minutes but struggled for any consistency the rest of the game," said HPU head coach Michelle Rayner. "In order for us to be successful this season, we will need to play a more complete game from start to finish. This was our first game and I know that we are going to get better. We just have to get back to work and get ready for our next home game on Sunday."
The Lady Monarchs got on the board just two minutes into play in the second half when Shavon Knight ran down a long lead pass from Ashley Kukura and slipped the ball past Edwards for a 1-0 ODU advantage at the 46:58 mark. Old Dominion made it 2-0 a little less than five minutes later (51:38) as Victoria Jackson found the net off a touch pass from Jocelyn Weidner inside the goal box.
ODU capped the scoring on Knight's second goal of the evening at 59:26. Knight pushed in a rebound of a shot by Brittney Kortz that caromed in front of the net off the left post.
High Point had great scoring chance thwarted late in the second half when sophomore Sara Rager outraced everyone to a long pass down the middle from freshman Rachael Parker. ODU keeper Lauren Tupman came off her line and made a tremendous save on Rager's attempt to slot the ball past her.
For the game Old Dominion outshot High Point, 29-4, and held a 6-2 edge in corner kicks. Tupman earned the shutout victory for ODU with a pair of saves.
High Point returns to the Vert Stadium field on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., against Wofford.
