HPU faces Campbell for Big South title
Apr. 16—HIGH POINT — The High Point University women's soccer team will try to make Campbell a shutout victim for a second time this season when they meet in the Big South tournament championship game today at Vert Stadium.
The undefeated Panthers blanked the Camels 2-0 in their meeting Feb. 28, one of seven shutouts authored by HPU on the way to a 10-0 record. The Camels are 7-3-1 and are 6-0-1 since losing to Radford 2-1 on March 7.
"I expect Campbell to be really intense," HPU head coach Brandi Fontaine said. "They are going to come out and press us. They're a hardworking team. I have no doubt that it's going to be quite the match. I expect we'll be going end-to-end for the entire 90 minutes. It will be an intense game."
HPU has outscored opponents 29-3, one of the top goal differentials in the country. Sam Gerhart leads HPU with 10 goals. Salome Prat has six (including one against Campbell), Juliette Vidal four and Skyler Prillaman three.
The Panthers have yet to give up more than one goal in a game. Morgan Hairston has made 29 saves while handling all of the goalkeeping durites so far.
Campbell has outscored its opponents 22-7 and junior forward Jessica Donald leads the Camels offense with six goals.
Two of Campbell's victories during its unbeaten streak were by five goals, one was by four and two by 1-0. The Camels reached the final by defeating the Highlanders 3-1 on Tuesday. Top-seeded HPU blanked Longwood 2-0.
"We're going to give everything in practice to prepare for Campbell and then go out and have another performance like tonight," HPU sophomore forward/midfielder Emma Schlosser said after the Panthers defeated Longwood.
The winner receives an automatic bid into the 48-team NCAA tournament. Team selections will be announced Monday. All games will be played at sites in North Carolina, with the first round April 27-28. WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary will play host to the semifinals May 13 and the championship game May 17.
