Thursday, April 8th- vs. Longwood (High Point, N.C.)

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The High Point University women's soccer team (8-0) will welcome Longwood (4-1-3) to Vert Stadium on Thursday afternoon for the regular-season finale. The Panthers look to continue their strong start to the season, most recently coming off of an important 3-1 victory over Presbyterian, which clinched the #1 seed for the Panthers in the upcoming Big South tournament and the Big South Regular Season title.

Matchup History 

• The Panthers are 12-5-3 all-time against the Lancers.
• The last time the Panthers and the Lancers met, the match ended in a scoreless draw. 

Panther Notes

Offensive Explosion

The Panthers are off to their hottest start in program history with an 8-0 record through the first eight games. The Panthers have been outshooting their opponents 128-47, scoring 23 goals, also a program-best through the first eight games of the season. HPU's scoring offense is currently ranked sixth in the nation averaging 2.88 goals per game. 

Noticed in the Nation

For the fifth week in a row, HPU has been receiving the top 25 votes in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. HPU is also currently ranked No. 24 in the College Soccer News poll. The Panthers are currently top 10 in the nation in seventh different categories including scoring offense, goals-against average, shutout percentage, save percentage, won-lost-tied percentage, points per game, and penalty kicks. 

Salome and Sam Scoring Frenzy 

Salomé Prat and Sam Gerhart are currently leading the Panthers in scoring with 13 combined goals. In the freshman's last time out she notched one of the team's three goals against Presbyterian. Prat has been honored as the Big South freshman of the week three times this season. Gerhart is coming off of her second multi-goal game of the season as she scored twice in the Panther victory against Presbyterian to help clinch the regular-season title for HPU. Gerhart has been selected as Big South Offensive Player of the week this week for the third time this season.  

Brick Wall Defense

The Panthers are heading into Saturday with six clean sheets in seven games. The team has only surrendered one goal on 47 shots in the previous eight games, with only 24 of those shots being on target. Morgan Hairston has been in goal for the Panthers making 22 saves over the previous eight contests. HPU's defense is currently ranked sixth in the nation in shutout percentage. 

Protecting Our House

High Point has not lost a regular-season conference game at home since October 23, 2018. 

Across the Bench

• Longwood is coming off of a 2-0 loss to Radford. 
• The Lancers finished the 2019 season with a 6-9-2 record. Longwood's season came to an end in the Big South Conference tournament quarterfinals as they fell to Radford by a score of 3-2.
• Longwood is led by Todd Dyer who is in his 27th season as the head coach of the Lancers. 

#GoHPU