BOX SCORE

Freshman Janay Whittaker (Stone Mountain, Ga./Peideia) scored the game-winning goal for the third match in a row as the High Point University women's soccer team beat Presbyterian College 2-1 in double overtime on Friday night in Clinton, S.C. It was the third goal of Whittaker's season and career, all game-winners.

"Tonight I'm very proud of our team for getting this win. A lot of players played quality minutes and really stepped up," said head coach Marty Beall. "I'm pleased that our seniors were able to get a win on the road against Presbyterian for the first time. Presbyterian is a well coached team with good players. Fortunately we were able to rise to the occasion again with Janay Whittaker scoring the game-winning goal."

HPU's Sara Rager (Silver Spring, Md./Paintbranch) scored the first goal of the game on a penalty kick at 61:08. Danielle Schepler (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) was taken down in the penalty box on the preceding play and Rager finished it. The Panthers held the lead until late in the game when PC's Britney Horton scored at 87:56 to send the game into overtime.

The first overtime went scoreless with HPU taking five shots to Presbyterian's two. In double overtime, HPU had a corner kick, the ball bounced around in the box and Robin Pecoraro (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce-Creek) put a shot off the crossbar. Whittaker potted the rebound at 103:21 to lift High Point to victory.

"It's extremely rare for someone to score game-winning goals three games in a row, especially for a freshman," said head coach Marty Beall. "I've never heard of it, never seen it."

It was HPU's third win in a row, lifting the Panthers above the .500 mark in conference play to 4-3-1. Overall, HPU is 5-13-1. With the loss, Presbyterian is 3-12-1 overall and 0-7-1 in conference play.

The Panthers have one regular-season game remaining against UNC Asheville on the road on Sunday before playing in the Big South Tournament Nov. 5-8 in Daniel Island, S.C.