Box Score BOX SCORE

Freshman Shawn Sloan (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) scored two second-half goals to help propel the High Point University men's soccer team to a 4-0 win over VMI in Lexington, Va., Friday afternoon. With the win, the Panthers improve to 4-1-1 in conference and match their highest conference win total in the Big South.

“Once again we are pleased to get a road win,” said head coach Dustin Fonder. “Every road win in this league is tough to get but they are critical if you want to win the league. I think VMI really took the game to us with their energy and fight. It took us awhile to respond but once we did that we were able to score some goals.” 

Sloan scored two goals in 33 seconds to put the Panthers up 3-0 in the 60th minute. Sloan scored his first when a give and go with junior Scott Rojo (Houston, Texas/Lee) gave him the ball on the left side of the box behind the defense. Sloan then beat the goalie with a good strike into the far-side netting. 

Less than a minute later, Sloan received the ball just passed midfield and beat the Keydet right back with his dribble before sending a hard shot past the goalie and into the net.

“Sloan has been good, he has been coming on,” said Fonder. “Like any freshman when you start the season you are kind of wide eyed and then by the middle of the season things start to click. Now as we hit this final season stretch he is firing on all cylinders.”

HPU jumped ahead, 1-0, in just the fifth minute of play when freshman Fejiro Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) beat the VMI fullback down the left side and sent a scorching shot at the goalie. The ball was saved but bounced high out to freshman Stephen Clowes (Cary, N.C./Green Hope) who headed it home for his third score of the season.

Freshman Shane Malcolm (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) finished the scoring for the Panthers in the 89th minute with a shot which squirted through the VMI keeper's legs and into the goal. Senior Sam Roca (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley,(South Carolina)) picked up the assist with a header to free Malcolm.

Sophomore keeper Michael Chesler (Highland, Utah/Mountain View) and the HPU defense recorded their sixth shutout of the season and their fourth in Big South play. The Panthers held VMI without a shot on goal in the second half.

This is the second straight year and the third time in HPU's 11-year Big South history that the team has won four games in conference play. The Panthers went 4-3-0 in 1999, their first season in the conference and 4-2-2 in 2008.

High Point returns to action on Monday, Nov. 2, when the team will travel to Radford, Va., to play the Highlanders of Radford University. Kickoff for the game is set for 7 p.m.