RICHMOND, Va. – The High Point University men's soccer team played to a, 1-1, draw against No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday night.
Site: Sports Backers Stadium
Score: High Point 1, VCU 1
Records: High Point (0-1-2), VCU (2-0-1)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "Great performance tonight overall. We love the response to the things that we needed to improve on from NC State and Davidson. We put together 90 minutes of a good fight, and we had so many quality moments that created a lot of chances. VCU did a great job defending their box, as they made some huge plays. Unfortunately, a restart gets us at the end. But on the balance of play, we are happy with the guys. We thought we deserved more, but if nothing else, it is definitely a jump start to become the team we want to be."
The first half of action saw a few shots fired for each team.
Fynn Geigle ripped one from above the box that just clipped the crossbar in the fourth minute. Just a few minutes later,
Alfred Baafi fired off the team's first shot on goal that was saved by the VCU keeper.
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VCU had a few chances to net one but were stopped by
Josh Caron as he made an outstanding save to keep the Rams off the board in the 32nd minute. The Panthers defense held their own to keep the ball out of their net.
The Panthers and the Rams went into the locker room at halftime scoreless through the first 45 minutes of play.
In the 62nd minute, High Point created some great chances for themselves in the Rams box. After Geigle intercepted the ball at midfield, he dribbled it down to the guys near the box which created a few chances as
Celestin Blondel and
Ross Johnstone both attempted crosses. Johnstone's cross found Baafi as he was able to fire a shot off.
The momentum started to shift the Panthers way as
Jefferson Amaya found himself taking three corner kicks back-to-back-to-back. On the third corner, Amaya lifted it to the center of the box as the ball was loose for a bit before finding Baafi to redirect it to Johnstone who took a powerful strike that found the back of the net. Johnstone put the Panthers up front in the 71st minute for his first goal in the Purple and White.
In the next 13 minutes of play, VCU had three corner kicks. On the third corner, Castillo Gerardo sent an olimpico goal to the top left of the net for the equalizer in the 84th minute of play.
Lukas Kamrath fired off the last shot for HPU as the clock struck 90 minutes and the whistle was blown.
Up Next: High Point will stay on the road as they will matchup with top-ranked Marshall University on Friday, Sept 6 at 7:15 p.m. in Huntington, WV.
#GoHPU
