HIGH POINT, N.C. – Off the bench,
Prosper Adagani netted his first collegiate brace to help lead the way for the 12th-ranked High Point University men's soccer team as the Panthers shutout Central Arkansas in dominating fashion, 3-0, on Sunday night.
With the win, the Panthers remain unbeaten for their most wins to start the season without a loss since 2012 when HPU went 10-0-1 in the first 11 games.
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: #12 High Point 3, Central Arkansas 0
Records: High Point (4-0-2), Central Arkansas (0-4-1)
Head Coach Zach Haines: "Our mentality was great from the very first minute. We challenged the guys in a big way this week to make sure that we came in tonight with a point to prove in making sure that we weren't just contempt with a good Marshall performance result on Tuesday, so I loved what we were about tonight. Dominant from start to finish."
High Point's leading goal scorer coming into the match,
Daniel Lugo, tallied his fourth goal of the season after putting on a series of moves to beat two defenders before drilling a beautiful left-foot strike from the left side of the goal to the back of the net in the 20th minute to gain a 1-0 advantage.
A corner kick from the left side of the field in the 40th minute led to brothers'
Noah Behrmann and
Ryan Behrmann double-assisting on a pass to
Prosper Adagani, who would drain a goal to the back right corner with his left-foot for his third goal of the season to push HPU's advantage to 2-0. The Behrmann assists were the first for both Noah and Ryan, who transferred to High Point from Clemson and Army, respectively while it was Noah's first appearance in Purple & White.
HPU controlled the first 45 minutes of action, possessing the ball 60 percent of the time, and outshooting Central Arkansas, 9-2, including three shots on goal compared to Central Arkansas' one. The Panthers also held the Bears' to zero corner kick opportunities while HPU recorded five in the first half of play.
It did not take long into the second half for HPU to advance its lead to 3-0. Two missed shot opportunities at goal by
Brendan Krueger led to Adagani one-timing the ball into the back right corner of the net, this time with his right-foot, for his second goal of the night and fourth of the season in the 56th minute.
Adagani and Lugo now have a team-tying best four goals apiece.
"Prosper is getting better every singe day, every single week," Haines said. "He is a special talent and he's learning all the time, and he's going to be one of the best forwards in the country at some point because he has the instincts in front of the goal, but he's also got the work rate as you saw tonight with his pressing and all of his actions. He's got a huge future ahead of him and we're super proud of him."
HPU would seal the win, 3-0, as the Panthers out-shot Central Arkansas, 14-6, in the second half and 23-8 overall, with eight shots on target including five in the second half of play compared to Central Arkansas' three total shots on goal and two in the second half.
In the net, Caron secured his second clean sheet of the season as he registered three saves.
Up Next: High Point will face its first conference matchup of the season against Presbyterian under the bright lights at Vert Stadium on Friday, September 19 at 7 p.m. for the Family Weekend game.
