HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's soccer team is set to play North Carolina in the first round on the NCAA Tournament in Chapel Hill as announced during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday afternoon (November 14). The Panthers claimed their second Big South Championship with a 2-0 shutout at Campbell on Saturday night to earn the automatic bid. Kickoff on Thursday is set for 12:00 PM.
"I think it's a great draw. We're an hour away from our first round game, we know the opponent, we're very familiar with them, and I think our guys are very excited," said head coach
Zach Haines. "Their reaction said it all, this is a game they'll be excited about. I think you see a lot of the teams that were selected today are going on the road out of state and playing maybe some unknown opponents to them. But it's a North Carolina school so there's a lot of familiarity, but that also brings a level of excitement too. Our guys are going to want to prove that they're a top program in this state."
Haines and senior goalkeeper
Holden Trent stated the importance of their strength of schedule leading into the matchup as well. For its second game of the season, HPU went on the road to then-No. 2 Georgetown and came home with a 1-1 draw after trailing 1-0 at the end of the first half. High Point also stunned No. 7 Maryland a month ago in College Park as the Panthers picked up a 2-1 win after again trailing 1-0 at the half.
"They know what it's like to go on the road into really good environments with top programs and storied programs, and they know how to get results. It will not be something that is an unknown feeling to them or anything that I think they'll be overwhelmed by, I think they'll be very well prepared for it," said Haines. "We have some guys that have been to an NCAA Tournament. They played the second round game against Georgetown. They understand what the environment is like, they understand what the circumstances are. And they'll be able to lead our young guys through any nerves or excitement, butterflies, or things like that."
Trent also emphasized that leadership from HPU's core that has already made an NCAA Tournament appearance will be crucial to bringing along a group that relies on youth as well. "A good chunk of us have been to the NCAA Tournament before, so it's familiar territory for us. But we can bring that experience and help the young guys out, maybe calm their nerves a little bit. Just continuing to speak to them and telling them to go out and do the things they've been doing all season, and then the game will take care of itself."
High Point's Path to the NCAA Tournament
High Point men's soccer won its second Big South Tournament in three seasons as
Noah Holmes recorded a brace and claimed league honors as the Tournament MVP.
Holden Trent,
Finn McRobb, and
Sebastian Chalbaud joined Holmes on the All-Tournament Team. HPU's automatic bid secured the program's third overall NCAA Tournament berth after the Panthers earned an at-large bid in 2018 before its first Big South Tournament Championship in the 2020 spring season.
This Season with the Panthers
High Point finished the regular season with a 8-4-5 overall record and 5-0-3 in conference play. Despite not dropping a Big South game, the Panthers finished as runners up in regular season play and drew the No. 2 seed heading into the conference tournament. In the opening round of postseason, HPU hosted No. 3-seed USC Upstate at Vert Stadium.
Noah Holmes helped HPU to a solid start, scoring the first goal in the 21
st minute with assists being credited to
Holland Rula and
Finn McRobb. From there, HPU recorded two goals from
Jefferson Amaya and
Ashton Perkins over the next 20 minutes to take a commanding 3-0 lead into halftime.
After a red card forced the Panthers to play the last 35 minutes of the match down a man, High Point stuck together defensively to hold Upstate scoreless through 89 minutes of play, but the Spartans capitalized on a ball that was deflected in the box by a Panther defender in the final minute. The damage had been done, and High Point advanced to the Big South Championship for the fourth consecutive season with a 3-1 victory.
Despite its regular season game not being decided until the 83
rd minute of play, High Point got out to a much quicker start in the Big South Championship against Campbell. Holmes once again was the one to put HPU on the board in the 11
th minute of play as the Panthers dominated possession and pace of play to open the game. Holmes recorded his fourth brace of the season as he scored again in the 80
th minute.
Jackson Ruckman,
Kaya Ignacio, and
Larson Rula were credited with assists in the match while
Holden Trent made two saves on the night as HPU limited Campbell to one shot on goal in each half.
High Point Nationally Impactful
Graduate student
Noah Holmes currently ranks tied for 11
th in game-winning goals among Division I players. Holmes' four game winners came in games against Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, UNC Asheville, and the conference championship game at Campbell. Holmes is also tied for 18
th in NCAA DI total goals (10) and 38
th in goals per game (0.53).
Senior goalkeeper
Holden Trent is tied for 23
rd in shutouts among NCAA Division I players. Trent has tallied seven shutouts on the year in games against Davidson, Elon, Presbyterian, Campbell, UNC Asheville, Longwood, and the Big South Championship against Campbell.
#GoHPU
