Box Score BOX SCORE

Goals by junior Shawn Sloan and sophomore Alex Martinez propelled the High Point University men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Richmond on Saturday night at Vert Stadium. The Panthers found the back of the net in each half to pick up the one-goal win.

“It was good that we were able to get a win tonight because we need a little bit of confidence heading into conference,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “It is hard to win games in college soccer so we are happy to head back into the locker room with the W. Now we can take the positives from tonight and build on those and take the negatives and clean them up in training as we continue to try and improve.”

The win improves High Point's record to 2-4-1 on the season while Richmond drops to 1-6-1.

HPU controlled the game at the outset and in the 16th minute took a 1-0 lead on Sloan's second goal of the season. Sophomore Adam Sewell headed a ball out to Sloan at the top of the box where the midfielder took one touch before ripping a shot towards goal. The ball took a deflection and beat Richmond' Thomas Hand to give the Panthers the one-goal advantage.

Martinez doubled the Panthers' lead in the 65th minute pouncing on a cross at the back post for his fourth goal of the season. Freshman Leon Carby started the play with a throw in to the feet of redshirt-junior Ryan Bennett who took the ball to the end line before sending a cross in front of the Richmond goal. Senior Karo Okiomah made a run up the middle which held Hand and gave Martinez an empty net for the eventual game winner.

Richmond managed to get one goal back in the 67th minute on a header by Jayson Perez off a free kick from just across the half line by Nick Butler but could pull no closer on the night.

Okiomah led HPU in shots with four and appeared poised to score in the final minutes when he beat Hand to a ball over the top and headed it towards frame, but an onrushing Richmond defender cleared the ball away from goal to maintain the 2-1 score line.

Richmond finished the night with a slight 12-11 lead in shots but only managed to put two shots on frame against a stingy HPU back line. Senior Michael Chesler made one save on the way to picking up his second win of the season.

High Point gets right back to action on Tuesday, Sept. 27, when the Panthers will kick-off conference play against Liberty in Vert Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 5, but was moved back due to inclement weather. HPU has beaten Liberty in each of the past two seasons and leads the all-time series with an 11-10-4 record.