HPU advances to Big South soccer final
Apr. 14—HIGH POINT — With a seventh shutout this season, the High Point University women's soccer team is back in the Big South women's soccer championship game for the first time since 2017.
Top-seeded HPU advanced Tuesday night by defeating No.4-seed Longwood 2-0 in a semifinal match at Vert Stadium.
With all games at better-seeded teams, HPU, which won the title in 2017, will host Campbell in the title game Friday night at 7. The third-seeded Camels upset No. 2-seed Radford 3-1 on Tuesday.
"We've worked so hard for this," HPU forward Emma Schlosser said. "Getting to the semifinal last season (2019) and losing was kind of hard for us. It's been in the back of our minds throughout our training the entire year. There was a lot weighing on this game, so we're excited to get the win."
The Panthers improve to 10-0-0. Longwood ends the season 4-3-3.
"I couldn't be more proud of the group," HPU coach Brandi Fontaine said. "We didn't know what we would get out of Longwood today and they gave us a run for our money. . .Our girls pushed through when some chaos and adversity started to happen. We lost a little of our identity but we gained it back and finally broke them down."
HPU scored a goal in each half. Juliette Vidal tallied in the 38th minute. Chloe LeFranc sent a ball in from far out in the attacking end. Lauren Mazich headed the ball to keep it from going out of bounds and got it to Vidal, who tipped the ball from the mouth of the goal on the right side.
"It was a team goal," Vidal said.
In the second half, Skyler Prillman took a pass from Emma Schlosser at about the midpoint of the attacking end, dribbled to within about 10 yards of the goal on the right side and booted a crossing shot that went off the fingers of the Longwood keeper and into the net by the left post.
"It was something we worked on practice for Emma to open her hips and find my feet," Prillaman said. "I was able to beat my defender and was able to place the shot across the face. It was about placing the ball in the corner."
Panther keeper Morgan Hairston grabbed five saves to help preserve the shutout. HPU held a 14-11 advantage in shots including 6-5 in shots on goal. The Panthers took six corner kicks to Longwood's three.
"Our defense has the backbone of our team with a ton of clean sheets," Fontaine said. "They call themselves The Brick Wall. They refused to be broken down."
Longwood, which played a passive style in a loss to the Panthers last week, was much more aggressive, particularly on defense. The Lancers matched the Panthers in possession for much of the first half and neither team generated many shots until the second half.
"We knew we needed to sustain pressure a little while," Fontaine said. "That was the push at the beginning of the game. I don t think we expected the intensity they came out with. We talked about it but until you experience it, you have to regain your ground. We talked about some things at halftime and we finally found our rhythm and settled in. They brought pressure all day long. They brought pressure in the first half and we expected it in the second. They are a well-organized defense team and we're glad we could combat that."
CHARLOTTE — Earlier in the day, the league announced HPU took three of conference's major postseason awards as voted by the league's coaches
Sophomore forward Gerhart was selected as Player of the Year, Fontaines was tabbed as Coach of the Year and Salome Prat was named Freshman of the Year.
Gerhart was the only player in the conference to reach double figures in goals this spring season with 10 and led the conference with 2.67 points per game. She received 26 points and eight first-place votes in the voting, ahead of Campbell's Jessica Donald (16 points and one first-place vote) and Radford's Brianna Oliver (11 points and one first-place vote).
Prat is the third consecutive Panther to earn Freshman of the Year honors. The winger led all freshmen and ranked second in the league with six goals and in points per game at 1.86 on the season. Prat finished the voting with 27 points and nine first-place votes, ahead of Campbell's Cazzi Norgren (16 points) and Longwood's Alex Dinger (11 points).
Fontaine is the Big South's first back-to-back Coach of the Year since 2014-15, as the Panthers have not dropped a regular-season conference match in two seasons. In just her third year at the helm, High Point closed the spring season with a perfect 9-0 record with an 8-0 mark in Big South play. Fontaine received 23 points and seven first-place votes, ahead of Radford's Ben Sohrabi (12 points and one first-place vote) and Campbell's Samar Azem (11 points and one first-place vote).
Gerhart and Prat were among six Panthers chosen all-conference first team. The others were midfielders Chloe LeFranc and Juliette Vidal, defender Alex DePerno and keeper Morgan Hairston.
Panther midfielder Carsyn Gold was named to the second team.
