BOX SCORE

Second-half goals by sophomores Katie Taber (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) and Laura Shupe (Cary, N.C./Green Hope) gave the seventh-seeded High Point University women's soccer team a 2-0 win over second-seeded Gardner-Webb in the first-round of the 2009 Big South Women's Soccer Tournament. The Panthers advance to the semifinals where they will play the winner of the game between No. 3 Charleston Southern and No. 6 Radford.

"We have been working very hard in conference play getting better and better each night and tonight I think we played the best game we have played all year," said head coach MArty Beall. "We needed to do that against a very good Gardner-Webb team that is very well coached. They had some fantastic players and I was proud of how our team stepped up to the occasion."

After a scoreless first half, Taber put HPU up 1-0 in 66th minute with a header from inside the 6-yard box. Senior Courtney Spotts (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) beat the Bulldog left back with a dribble to the corner before lofting a cross to the Taber at the far post. Taber headed the ball solidly into the net before the GWU goalie could slide over to make the stop.

Up 1-0, High Point continued to press and in the 74th minute Shupe doubled the Panther's lead with a goal from 12-yards out to make the score 2-0. Shupe dribbled into the box from the right side and shook two defenders before lofting a shot over the Gardner-Webb keeper and into the far-side netting.

"It is very exciting that our offense is starting to click," said Beall. "We scored two absolutly brilliant goals on things we have been working hard on improving which makes a coach very excited. Things are starting to pull together for us."

Down by two, the Bulldogs increased their offensive pressure but the HPU defense continued to clear dangerous balls and senior keeper Marisa Abbott (Troy, N.Y./Tamarac) made two great saves in the final ten minutes to maintain the clean sheet.

Abbott made five saves in the game to earn her sixth shutout of the season, breaking her own HPU Division I single-season record for saves in a season. The Troy, N.Y., native had previously set the record in 2007 with five clean sheets and tied it last season.

The Panthers will return to Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C., tomorrow at 7 p.m., when they will take on either Charleston Southern or Radford in the in the semifinals of the Big South Women's Soccer Tournament. HPU lost, 2-1, to Charleston Southern and won, 1-0, over Radford this season. Both games were played at home in Vert Stadium.