BOX SCORE

A late comeback fell just short as the High Point University men's soccer team fell to No. 23 William & Mary, 2-1, in Williamsburg, Va., Saturday evening. Junior Karo Okiomah scored his third goal of the season for the Panthers.

“We are obviously disappointed with the result but we need to be smart and see what we can take from the match,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “I thought we played really good soccer for large stretches of the match but we made some mistakes and they made us pay for those mistakes. We will get back this week, clean up our mistakes and get back to our winning ways.”

Trailing by two goals, HPU got on the board in the 77th minute when Okiomah converted a penalty kick to pull High Point to within one. Sophomore Fejiro Okiomah corralled the ball at the half line and beat two defenders before carrying the ball into the box where he was taken down from behind, drawing the penalty. Karo Okiomah stepped to the ball and beat the keeper with a low shot to the left, it was his second PK goal of the season.

The Panthers continued to look for the equalizer earning two corner kicks in the final five minutes but were unable to find a second goal as the game ended with The Tribe still leading, 2-1.

The first half was an even contest between the two squads as William & Mary carried the possession but High Point earned several dangerous chances on counters. The Panthers best chance of the half came in the 13th minute when sophomore Shane Malcolm beat his defender on the right flank and crossed into the box to sophomore Shawn Sloan. Sloan made good contact but the shot ran just outside the left post.

The game looked to be headed into the break knotted at 0-0 but with just 19 seconds left in the period the Tribe's John Clampa beat a double team and dribbled into the penalty area before hitting a shot into the top left corner to put William & Mary up 1-0 at the break.

The Tribe doubled their lead after the half when Jimmy Carroll scored to put William & Mary up 2-0. Carroll received a throughball behind the defense and ran up the end line before sliding a shot into the far post at an extreme angle.

The Panthers fall to 3-2-1 on the season while the No. 23-ranked Tribe improve to 4-1-0.

High Point returns home to open up its Big South Conference schedule with a game against Gardner-Webb on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. The Panthers picked up their biggest win of the season last year against the Bulldogs with a 5-0 win in Boiling Springs, N.C.