#2 High Point Downs #3 USC Upstate, 3-1, to Advance to Championship Match
By High Point Athletics
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's soccer team advanced to its fourth-consecutive Big South Championship game with a 3-1 win over No. 3-seed USC Upstate on Sunday night. The Panthers will meet No. 1-seed Campbell in Buies Creek on Saturday night for a rematch of the 2021 Big South Championship.
Head coach Zach Haines: "Great win tonight, great performance. We knew the guys would be up for it. Obviously, when you get to play at home for a conference tournament semifinal against a good team that we had wanted a little bit more in the game during the regular season just a short week ago. So, I knew we'd be hungry, and we were. We were absolutely phenomenal in the first half, completely dominated the game on both sides of the ball, and obviously the score line showed it at 3-nil. I feel for Cooper (Lindfelt), I think it was eight minutes in in the second half, and he picks up his second yellow. Really unlucky on an accidental handball that gets called, but we had to completely change what we were doing after that. We showed an unbelievable amount of character and resilience and really did not give much away in terms of clear-cut chances while having to defend a man down for 38 minutes. Unfortunately, just a deflection in the last minute scores the goal. I think it says a lot about the group that they were disappointed after the game because they wanted the clean sheet too, which is a little bit unfair to think of it that way when you're having to defend a man down for so long. So, I'm just really proud of the guys, they were awesome tonight."
High Point controlled possession early on, recording its first shot in fifth minute. Sebastian Chalbaud had another chance in the sixth minute but could not muscle the ball through the box for a goal.
Finn McRobb set up a great sequence for the Panthers, finding Holland Rula down the left side of the field who served the cross to Noah Holmes for the header goal. It marked Holmes' team-high eighth goal of the season while McRobb was credited with his first assist and Rula earned his second of the season.
Holding the 1-0 advantage, HPU continued to press. Brendan Krueger tallied his first shot of the night in the 31st minute from beyond the 18.
After an Upstate foul in the penalty area, Big South Freshman of the Year Jefferson Amaya took the penalty kick for the Panthers and fired a rocket into the bottom left corner to give High Point the 2-0 lead.
Ashton Perkins followed it up in the 40th minute with his second goal of the season. Krueger was credited with the assist on the goal while HPU carried the 3-0 lead into halftime.
Early on in the second half, a red card issued to the Panthers forced the home team to play a man down for the last 35 minutes of the match. Beau Yantz tallied HPU's second shot of the half in the 62nd minute.
With a deep shot from Upstate, Holden Trent made his third save of the game in the 70th minute. HPU posted nine shots on goal to Upstate's four.
Upstate scored its lone goal with just over a minute left as a Spartan fired a shot from beyond the 18 and ricocheted off a Panther defender and into the goal.
Up Next: High Point travels to No. 1-seed Campbell on Saturday night for the Big South Tournament Championship. A season ago, the Camels won a 3-2 match against the Panthers in Buies Creek for the tournament title.