HIGH POINT, N.C. – In front of a record crowd of 4,913 fans, the 10th-seeded High Point University men's soccer team defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers on Sunday night, 3-2, at Vert Stadium to become the first-ever HPU team to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Not only are the Panthers the first team to make it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, but they are also the first team to host a second round game on campus. It was the Panthers' third-ever appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the first appearance since the 2022 season as this one is historic for the first second round victory in school history.
No. 10 High Point now heads north to face seventh-seeded Georgetown for a Sweet Sixteen matchup on Saturday, November 29 at 5 p.m.
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: #10 High Point 3, West Virginia 2
Records: High Point (14-1-4), West Virginia (13-5-3)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "It's a great moment for the guys and the program. We wanted the Sweet 16, and we've always talked about having that as a goal of this program. It's extremely difficult to get past the first and second round, especially in our region, always has been, always will be. And tonight, we did everything that you could possibly imagine to make sure that we were going to come out with the win and advance to the next round. A result against a team that's been top 25, top 20, top 15 all year long, and West Virginia is a very good team, and I think we got the deserved result tonight no matter what the scoreline is."
The Panthers had a pair of great looks at goal in the eighth minute. A free kick was taken by
Jefferson Amaya with him placing the ball on the far side post of the penalty box, where
Lukas Kamrath was able to get his right foot on the ball, with it going toward goal before a Mountaineers defender deflected the ball up and out to where then
Roman Holt got his head on the ball with it heading towards net, but not before the goalie dove on the ball for the save.
HPU had another fantastic opportunity at goal in the 27th minute that came up empty.
Beau Yantz passed the ball to
Alfred Baafi, who gave the ball right back to Yantz, as he struck the ball at the net right at the goalie for the diving deflection.
The 32nd minute came around, and it was the Panthers that struck on the scoreboard first.
Koven Johnson fired the ball to the right side of the field to
Noah Behrmann, who took a few dribbles before beating his defender on the edge, and shooting the ball over two defenders, past the goalie, and into the back left side of the net for the 1-0 advantage.
"I have not scored much in my college career, so it was awesome," Behrmann said. "It's not even the goal itself, just the feeling of going to the corner and celebrating with my teammates around me; it's just next level and something very few people get to experience."
After not recording a goal his entire collegiate career, Behrmann has now tallied a score in back-to-back games, which included HPU's last outing against Gardner-Webb in the Big South Conference championship game.
"Just to score on those two big stages," Behrmann said, "I just feel like all the hard work that's gone into it for my team, and then over the past few years going through so much adversity, it just has brought me back stronger. If you just keep working, keep putting your head down and get people around you that give you a chance and care about you and trust you, it's just a complete game-changer."
The Panthers added onto their score with an incredible goal in the 36th minute that had the record crowd in shock.
Mo Guettel lined up for a free kick near the build-out line — roughly 40 yards from goal and fired the ball directly to the crossbar — with the ball then directly hitting down and across the goal line for the second score of the game. It is Guettel's second goal of the season and first since Sept. 9 against Marshall.
"We know he [Guettel] can hit them, but it's not something that you train every day," Haines said. "You're not exactly going out and hitting 40-yard free kicks on the regular, so it's just one of those big-time moments that we'll remember for a long time that a guy was willing to step up and make a big-time play. It's one of the most insane free kicks I've ever seen, and to do that on that stage, I love it for Mo."
HPU went into halftime with a 2-0 advantage. The Panthers recorded nine total shots and five shots on goal in the first half, and held the Mountaineers to three total shots and zero shots on goal.
The Panthers were quick to jump out to a 3-0 lead as the second half started. It took eight minutes for
Chris Niblock to find the back of the net.
Alfred Baafi crossed the ball to the far side penalty box to
Daniel Lugo, who one-touched the shot directly at the Mountaineers' defender. Niblock was there to follow the miss with a right-footed strike past the diving arms of the goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner of the net in the 53rd minute for Niblock's fourth goal of the season.
Isaac Scheer and the Mountaineers tallied their first score of the game two minutes later in the 55th minute after a throw-in eventually found its way to Scheer as he struck the goal into the back left corner.
The goal is the first score
Josh Caron has allowed in four games, and just the 12th goal Caron has allowed all season, compared to HPU's 47 scores.
Caron prevented a second goal attempt from the Mountaineers in the 68th minute. A cross right outside of the goalbox found the diving head of Juan Alvarez, who put the ball right at goal, but it was Caron that dove to the right for the crucial save out of bounds to keep the score notched at 3-1.
Kamrath stopped another very good look at the goal with just under nine minutes to go in the 82nd minute. Another Alvarez strike headed toward the goal, directly to Kamrath, who was able to kick the ball out and eventually out of bounds for the critical stop.
In the 87th minute, Marcus Caldeira kicked in the team's second goal of the game to make it 3-2.
Despite an aggressive push from the Mountaineers in the final three minutes, HPU held on to secure the 3-2 victory to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
"We knew we were going to have to play a very well-rounded game," Haines said, "and we were going to have to be very much locked in for 90 minutes because West Virginia, as they've shown all year long, they can score goals in bunches."
The Panthers finished the 90 minutes of action with 12 total shots and six shots on goal compared to West Virginia's 13 total shots and five shots on goal.
Despite the two goals, Caron recorded two incredible saves, both coming in the second half.
"This is why I came to this program," Haines said. "This is why I stayed patient as an assistant and associate coach for so long at some really great programs that I enjoyed working at because I was hoping for an opportunity like this that just had so much potential. To be able to bring these types of occasions to High Point and to High Point University, it makes your job as special as it possibly can be, so going to the Sweet Sixteen is amazing. So proud of the guys, but to do this at home, man, it's pretty surreal."
The 4,913 fans in attendance was 1,700 more people than in HPU's second-most attended game in program history, which came earlier in the season against Presbyterian for the Family Weekend game.
#GoHPU
