RADFORD, Va. – On Friday night, it was revealed that the High Point University men's soccer team became the first Big South team to ever appear in the NCAA DI Men's Soccer Committee's Top 16 at No. 7.
And a day later, the 11th-ranked Panthers proved that they are deserving of that ranking as High Point continued its 11-game win streak against Radford University with a 2-0 win on the road Saturday afternoon. HPU was led by two second-half goals from
Prosper Adagani.
Site: Cupp Memorial Field
Score: #11 High Point 2, Radford 0
Records: High Point (9-1-3, 5-0-0), Radford (2-8-3, 1-3-1)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "We had a great mentality today. Never got frustrated and had confidence the breakthrough would come. It was exactly what we needed at this stage of the season, for an away game in-conference."
After a five-day break, the Panthers got back in action on the road.
Despite a slow start from both sides, High Point had many opportunities to get on the board in the first half as the Panthers finished the first 45 minutes with eight total shots and three shots on goal.
Jefferson Amaya,
Daniel Lugo, and
Beau Yantz all had shots on target in the first half, but the Panthers' best opportunity came in the 22nd minute. A free kick taken by Amaya found the head of
Lukas Kamrath, with the ball going a few inches to the right of the far side corner of the goal.
The Panther defense was dialed in the first half, holding Radford to two total shots and zero corner kick opportunities.
High Point found its first score in the 53rd minute as a beautiful ball upfield from
Roman Holt found
Chris Niblock. Niblock put on a series of moves before crossing the ball inside the goal box right to the head of Adagani as he added onto his goal count for the season with his fifth score. It was the fourth assist of the season for Niblock and Holt's first.
Ten minutes later in the 63rd minute, Adagani made it six goals and his second collegiate brace as he took a nifty feed from fellow Ghanaian
Desmond Mensah and put it home for the 2-0 lead. Mensah took a pass upfield from Amaya and flipped it up over the Highlander defender before finding Adagani for the brace. It was Mensah's first collegiate assist and Amaya's third this season.
Caron and the defense held the Highlanders to seven total shots, including two on goal, for the Panthers' sixth clean sheet. The Panthers added on 10 shots in the second half for 18 total and nine on goal, while HPU had six corners to Radford's pair.
With High Point's fifth straight Big South Conference win, the Panthers extend their lead in the conference standings with 15 points, which is two points ahead of Gardner-Webb.
Up Next: High Point continues its road trip against the No. 2 team in the Big South Conference, Gardner-Webb, on Saturday, October 25 at 6 p.m. in Boiling Springs, N.C.
#GoHPU
