BOX SCORE

The High Point University men's soccer team clinched its first ever regular season Big South Championship with a 2-1 double-overtime win at Coastal Carolina Wednesday night. Sophomore Shane Malcolm connected in extra time to give HPU the win.

“Our team came down here with heavy hearts after one of our teammates suffered a tragedy in his family,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “Because of that we were understandably not our usual selves in the first half, but we dug in and kept fighting. I am so proud of this group for fighting through all the adversity they have had to deal with.”

Malcolm scored the game winner in the 106th minute after a give and go with sophomore Shawn Sloan. Malcolm took a pass out wide on the right and beat a defender before passing it into the middle to Sloan. The midfielder took two touches before laying off a through ball, which Malcolm ran onto before beating Coastal's Scott Angevine with a shot to the far post. The goal was Malcolm's sixth of the season.

“To score the game-winning goal here was amazing,” Malcolm said. “This is our first Big South Championship and we have been planning for this all year. When I scored all I could think was “oh my god I can't believe we did it.””

High Point jumped out to the lead in the opening minutes for the second game in a row when sophomore Fejiro Okiomah scored off a deflection in the second minute. Senior Scott Rojo beat the CCU defender on the left flank with his dribble and put the ball into the box where it hit off a Chant defender. The ball went right to Okiomah who immediately unleashed a shot to the right post for his ninth score of the season. The goal was the sophomore's ninth of the year and his fifth in the last four games.

Coastal tied the game just four minutes later with a goal by CCU's Robby Joe Daniels in the 6th minute. The Chanticleers sent a cross from the right side of the 18 to the far post where Daniels ran on it and tapped it in.

Junior Michael Chesler kept the game knotted at one with a great save in the 36th minute after CCU's Sebastian Bahos got behind the High Point defense. The junior keeper came off his line and swiped the ball away for his only save of the contest.

Both teams managed to find scoring chances in the second half, but neither could find the back of the net and game remained tied, 1-1, after 90 minutes. The Panthers best chance in the second half came in the 84th minute when Rojo dribbled through three defenders in the penalty area and hit a chip over the on-rushing Angevine, but the shot sailed just over the crossbar and out of play.

Malcolm had a chance to win the game in the first period of extra time after Chesler found him behind the defense at midfield with a big throw. The forward dribbled into the box and appeared to have a one-on-one with Angevine but a CCU defender cut across the shot and blocked it away.

With the win, High Point improves to 12-3-1 overall and 7-0-0 in the Big South, clinching its first ever Big South Regular Season Championship. Coastal falls to 9-6-1 and 5-2-0 in the Big South with the loss. The game was CCU's fifth double-overtime game of the season.

“Winning the Big South Regular Season Championship is huge,” Fonder said. “Any conference in America, if you win the conference it takes tough work. You have to go on the road and grind as well as take care of business at home. Some of our players have been building towards this for three years and I am so pleased for the team>”

High Point wraps up its Big South season on Saturday, Oct. 30, when the Panthers return home to take on VMI. HPU beat the Keydets, 4-0, last season in Lexington, Va. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.