HIGH POINT, N.C – The High Point University men's soccer team took down Winthrop 3-0 to win their last regular season game on senior night. High Point finished the regular season undefeated at home with a 5-0-2 record at Vert Stadium. They hold the No. 1 seed heading into the conference tournament finishing with a 6-0-1 Big South Conference record.
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: High Point 3, Winthrop 0
Records: High Point (9-3-4, 6-0-1), Winthrop (4-10-2, 3-2-2)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "Great mentality tonight from the guys. The regular season title and the No. 1 seed was already wrapped up. We weren't happy with that being the case and potentially ending the season on a poor note. The guys were on it from the first second of the game. It meant a lot to them to have a good performance on senior night to close out the fourth straight undefeated Big South season and being undefeated at home. Certain things really motivated them, I loved the mindset they had."
It wasn't long until High Point scored first. All it took was eight minutes of play until
Jefferson Amaya absolutely fired one from above the box to the back of the net to give HPU the early lead.
What a way to start senior night for
Tony Pineda. Pineda took control of a rebound off a defender at the top of box and lasered it past a diving Winthrop keeper. High Point took an early 2-0 lead in the 11th minute.
High Point headed into the locker room with a full steam of confidence after sending off nine shots and two goals to cap off the first 45 minutes of play.
The second half quickly shifted in favor of High Point right in the 55th minute as Pineda knocked in his second of the match.
Beau Yantz sent a beautiful cross landing right on Pineda's foot as he tapped it home.
"One thing we worked on in training all week was to get on the counterattack and make runs in the box," said Pineda. "We did a good job getting it to Anthony and he ended up playing Beau. It was a great ball by Beau, and I was there in perfect timing."
Great defense as well as great goalkeeping from all three of High Point's keepers kept the Eagles off the board.
Josh Caron,
Justin Stewart, and
Luke Snyder all saw time in net tonight.
Up Next: High Point will play in the Big South Semifinal match at Vert Stadium against the No. 4 seed Gardner-Webb Sunday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m.
#GoHPU
