BOX SCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
A penalty kick by junior
Karo Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) in the 82nd minute broke a 0-0 tie and gave the High Point University men’s soccer team a 1-0 win over Elon in the Panthers’ season opener at Vert Stadium Wednesday night. The match was played in front of a record attendance of 1,515 fans.
“Our performance wasn’t quite what we wanted but our energy and fight were very good,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “I thought we expended so much energy in the first 30 minutes that Elon kind of took control after that. I think early we deserved a goal and didn’t get one and late were very fortunate that Karo stepped up and we got one.”
HPU opened the game on a tear, putting up six shots in the first 22 minutes of play. Sophomore
Shane Malcolm (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) twice came within inches of the game’s first tally as he sent a blistering shot from just inside the right side of the 18-yard box past the far post and followed that with a shot off the crossbar from 10-yard out.
The Phoenix began to settle after the first 30 minutes and despite a 7-2 edge in shots for High Point the two teams headed into the half still knotted at 0-0.
Through much of the second half, neither team was able to take control of the match as the game was played largely in the center of the pitch.
The Panthers broke through in the 82nd minute when redshirt-sophomore
Ryan Bennett (Cary, N.C./Cary Christian) dribbled into the box from the left wing and attempted to cross the ball in front of the goal. The pass was knocked down by the arm of an Elon defender, earning HPU a penalty kick. Okiomah stepped to the spot and calmly beat the Phoenix keeper with a high shot which glanced off the crossbar.
“It was a good game tonight,” Okiomah said. “I thought when we came out so hot we were a little unfortunate not to get a goal. My heart was beating when I took that kick. I knew it was a big goal for the team to get our first win so I just stepped up as a captain and put it away.”
Elon looked like it would answer right back when on the following possession the Phoenix’s Chris Thomas sent a shot from 15-yards out to the upper right corner but junior
Michael Chesler (Highland, Utah/Mountain View) made a sprawling fingertip save to send the ball over the crossbar.
The 1-0 win matches the result from the two teams’ meeting last season in Elon, N.C., where Okiomah also scored the game winner.
The Panthers next head to Harrisonburg, Va., to play in the JMU Comfort Inn Invitational. HPU will play St. Francis at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 4, and Rider at 5 p.m., on Monday, Sept. 6.