HPU ROUNDUP: Panthers roll past Upstate in Big South soccer semifinals
Nov. 7—HIGH POINT — Despite playing a man short for the last 35 minutes, the High Point University men's soccer team held USC Upstate scoreless until the closing seconds and posted a 3-1 victory in a Big South men's soccer semifinal match Sunday at Vert Stadium.
Noah Holmes (header in the 22nd minute), Jefferson Amaya (penalty kick in the 36th minute) and Ashton Perkins (center strike in the 41st minute) scored as HPU (9-4-5) dominated the first half.
The Panthers went a man down when Cooper Lindfelt picked up two yellow cards (one for pulling a player down and the other for a handball) in a span of 26 seconds, resulting in a disqualifying red.
HPU stayed on defense for the rest of the match except for a few brief moments. The Spartans , who peppered shots over the last 10 minutes but put only three on goal for the half, finally scored on a deflection with 53 seconds left.
"If you go on to close out another 53 seconds and have a clean sheet against an attacking team as good as Upstate, it would be a phenomenal achievement in a tournament semifinal where they have to throw caution to the wind," HPU head coach Zack Haines said. "We were 53 seconds away, and to me that is as impressive as going up 3-nil in the first half. It was a bit weird the way things turned with that call, but we'll focus on the positive things from both halves, and there were a lot of them."
HPU faces Campbell in the championship match at Campbell on Saturday. The Camels defeated the Panthers in the final last year but the Panthers got a bit of revenge this season with a 1-0 victory.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
HIGH POINT — Making a favorable first impression, Minnesota transfer Abdoulaye Thiam led the way with 23 points as the High Point University men's basketball team trounced Division III Bridgeport College 100-61 in an exhibition game Saturday in Qubein Arena.
Jordan House added 22 points and Zack Austin had 13 despite a poor shooting night. The Panthers, who forced 24 turnovers and held the Eagles to 31 percent shooting, went on a 21-2 run in opening a 37-15 lead on the way to leading 55-21 at halftime.
Thiam, who was added to the Panthers roster to offset the transfer of last year's leading scorer John-Michael Wright to Oklahoma State, opened the game by hitting two 3s and scoring 8 of the Panthers first 12 points. He hit 8 of 15 shots including 3 of 6 from behind the 3-point arc.
"Tonight felt really great because I didn't have this opportunity where I was at," Thiam said. "Having this opportunity, where I can come in and play and be me. It was a good experience. My guys trusted me, I trusted them. It was overall good basketball."
HPU played an uptempo style, shot 50 percent but at times was sloppy with the ball on fastbreaks and committed 19 turnovers.
"We talked about playing faster and we did that early," head coach G.G. Smith said. "We probably had too many turnovers, 19 is a bit too much but if you are going to push the pace, those things are going to happen ... I like the way we ran the floor. I like how our bigs ran the floor, our guards really pushed the ball and initially we got some easy baskets in transition, which helped us get to 100 points."
VOLLEYBALL
HIGH POINT — High Point University swept Radford 25-23, 25-19, 25-13 in a Big South volleyball match on Friday in the Millis Center.
Sydney Palazzolo led the Panthers with 13 kills. Ally Van Eekeren had 23 assists. Jenny Wessling added16 digs while Sopheea Mink and Maria Miggins each blocked five shots.
HPU (19-9, 12-2 Big South) plays host to Gardner-Webb on Friday at 6 p.m.
