Sunday, Feb. 21- vs. Gardner-Webb (High Point, N.C.)
Watch | Live Stats Stream: ESPN +
The High Point University men's soccer team hosts Gardner-Webb on Sunday in its' Big South Conference home opener. It will be HPU's first D-1 contest of the year, the Panthers are coming off of a 5-0 win over Lees-McRae.
Matchup History
- The Panthers are 12-1-4 all-time against the Runnin' Bulldogs.
- A season ago Ilias Kosmidis secured the win for HPU with a late goal in the 77th minute of the game to lead HPU to victory.
- HPU defeated Gardner-Webb the last time they came to Vert, 1-0. Current Director of Operations for HPU Johnny Fenwick scored the deciding goal back in 2018.
Panther Notes
Foreign Connection
High Point added some new Panthers this off-season. The Panthers added two international players this off-season. Both newcomers Finn McRobb and Sebastian Chalbaud each scored in the game against Lee-McRae. Both enter the season receiving national attention with Chalbaud earning a spot on their preseason top 100 players in the country list. While McRobb made the Preseason Freshman Best XI in all of Division I.
The Good Doctor
Sophomore MD Myers was the leading scorer a week ago for HPU. Myers emerged as a powerful offensive option for the Purple and White after scoring his career-high of two goals.
Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes
A change has been made for the home game next week. We are no longer hosting Davidson this Thursday (2/25). Instead, we welcome Wofford to Vert Stadium on Wednesday (2/24) at 6:00 PM on ESPN+
He's Davis
The sophomore from Hickory, N.C. Davis Biggerstaff had quite the debut in a High Point Uniform last time out against LMC as he recorded two assists helping power the Panthers to their five-goal victory.
Haines On Last Time
"We are happy about the first game", Head Coach Zach Haines said after the five-goal victory. "Our guys had not played in 455 days so you knew there were going to be a lot of mistakes, you knew there were going to be moments of confusion, indecision, things like that but we just wanted to enjoy it and have fun. These guys have worked really hard and have done all the right things on and off the field to allow themselves this opportunity. I thought they took advantage of it they were engaged and played hard for 90 minutes. They put together a lot of good sequences in terms of the attacking play we had and some of the goals we scored. Defensively to get the clean sheet and look really solid and not give up too many chances gives us a lot of positives to walk away with tonight. We are just excited to be playing more than anything and the guys were buzzing, it was awesome.'
Across the Bench
- GWU comes into the game against HPU after defeating VMI 5-0 last week. Abel Gebrekiros led the way for the Runnin' Bulldogs with two goals in the win.
- Abel Gebrekiros was named to the College Soccer News National Team of The Week after his multigoal performance. Sam Catherall was selected as the Big South Defender of the Week last week after the VMI shutout victory.
- Gardner-Webb finished third a season ago with a record of 5-2-1. They were picked to finish third in the preseason poll.
#GoHPU
