HIGH POINT, N.C. –
Tony Pineda's header proved to be the game winner which lead the High Point University men's soccer team to its first victory of the year. It was a thriller at Vert Stadium as HPU took down the University of Evansville, 2-1, Friday night.
Head Coach Zach Haines: "Great win tonight. Evansville is a tough team to play against. They are fully committed and they work hard. We knew we would have to outwork them and knew we have to win the fight tonight. Making sure we did not take any shortcuts and were accountable in every single moment because they punish you if you're not. We executed when we needed to in terms of the goal scoring. Obviously, that was a focus coming off the first game. I am very proud of the guys and what they put in tonight because they needed to bounce back from a disappointing result in the first game. Bringing a top 100 team to Vert Stadium, they made sure we got a result in the second game."
SITE: Vert Stadium
SCORE: High Point 2, Evansville 1
RECORDS: High Point (1-0-1), Evansville (1-1-1)
Senior captain,
Finn McRobb notched his first goal of the year in the eighth minute of the game. Assisted by
Jefferson Amaya, McRobb handled the rebound off the keeper and booted it to the bottom right of the net.
Evansville found some fire late in the first half to tie the game when Jose Vivas netted one just by the reach of
Justin Stewart in the 43rd minute.
Heading into the second half, the momentum shift was very noticeable at Vert Stadium. The Panthers held possession for most of the half, putting real pressure on the defense. A lot of yellow cards flew out of the ref's pocket, but HPU stayed composed and it fueled the fire for the guys.
"I think we have great leadership; I think that is what it comes down to," said Haines. "There were a lot of moments where it could have gotten carried away, we could have reacted, we could have retaliated. The guys that have been here, who have experience, did a wonderful job of making sure everyone kept their heads. I thought that we did a really nice job of bouncing the intensity and being tough but also making sure that we never stepped over the line."
Late in the second half,
Alex Abril sent one flying into the box off a throw in, bouncing off the turf and finding Pineda who took a hack at it with his head and the rest was history. With just five minutes to play, Pineda inevitably knocked in the game winner to send the fans home happy.
"It's happened four or five other times in a game," said
Tony Pineda. "We saw we had clear chances on all of them and I was just waiting for it to fall for me. I knew Karson (Kendall) was there, if he got a head on it, he got a head on it, but I was there ready for the rebound, saw my moment and did not want to miss that."
The Panthers
outshot Evansville, 12-4, and was 7-1 on corners. HPU held off the Aces in the final minutes of the match to lock up the first victory.
Up Next: The Panthers pack their bags and head to Huntington, W. Va., to take on No. 5 Marshall University, Friday Sept. 8.
#GoHPU
