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The High Point University men's soccer team got a late goal from Karo Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) to pull out a 2-1 victory over Liberty on Wednesday night at Vert Stadium. Senior Matt Tuttle (Winston-Salem, N.C./Reynolds) got HPU the lead before Liberty got on the board to tie it in the 83rd minute. HPU could win the Big South regular season title depending on this weekend's games.

"We're extremely excited to get the win," said head coach Dustin Fonder. "Liberty is a top notch program, in the hunt year in and year out to win the conference title, so for us to get a win over them is big for the program."

High Point University improved to 9-5-2 overall and 5-1-2 in the Big South. It was the Panthers' final league game of the season and clinched the program's second-consecutive winning season. High Point awaits the outcome of Coastal Carolina's game against Radford on Saturday to find out who wins the Big South regular-season title. If Coastal Carolina ties or loses, HPU wins the championship. With its loss, Liberty is 9-4-3 overall and 3-2-2 in the Big South.

"We told the guys before the game, we don't totally control our destiny but if we win, we give ourselves an opportunity," said Fonder. "So they went out there and fought for three points today and now, whatever happens in the Coastal-Radford game happens. If it turns out in our favor, we'll jump up and down on Saturday night…or we'll say 'hey, we'll take the two seed and come in and fight as the two seed.'"

Tuttle scored the first goal of the game at 54:49. Okiomah had the ball inside the goalie box and passed it to Scott Rojo (Houston, Texas/Lee) who was open on the right. Rojo passed it to the left side, where Tuttle was even more open, and Tuttle banked it in for the score.

The Panthers had the lead with less than 10 minutes to go before Liberty got on the board to tie it up. Chris Phillips received a cross in front, evaded a High Point defender to the right side and shot the ball into the corner of the net to make it 1-1 at 83:27.

It looked like overtime was a possibility until Okiomah blasted the ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out to lift the Panthers to a 2-1 lead at 86:35.

The first half went scoreless with a lot of midfield action. HPU got four shots off, including one on goal by Tuttle. Toward the end of the half, both Karo Okiomah and Fejiro Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) got strong shots off that sailed wide. HPU goalkeeper Michael Chesler (Highland, Utah/Mountain View) made one save in the half on a shot by Liberty's Chris Mandell shortly after one of the Flames' five corner kicks. He made two stops in the game while Liberty goalkeeper Andrew Madero made one.

The Panthers close out the regular season against Kentucky on the road on Sunday at 1 p.m. High Point University hosts the Big South Tournament at Vert Stadium next week, with the quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 12, semifinals on Friday and championship game on Sunday.