HPU Women’s Soccer Drops 4-1 Decision At Navy

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The High Point University women’s soccer team fell on the road at Navy by a score of 4-1 on Friday night in Annapolis, Md. Redshirt-freshman Kelsey Perrell found the back of the net for the Panthers.

“Navy is a strong and athletic team and they were able to punish us on the four individual mistakes we made tonight,” head coach Marty Beall said. “I was pleased with the way we started the game and the effort we put out there, but our final pass was lacking. Navy is a very good team that was able to put together spells of possession and I thought we dealt with that well. If we play like we did tonight and minimize the individual mistakes we should be in good shape come Sunday.”

High Point used a string of crisp passing to spring Kelsey Perrell for the first goal of the contest, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute. Sophomore Amy Burch played a ball out of the back to senior Kelli Joline who then passed it up to senior Becca Hemby. The senior midfielder then sprung Perrell with a through ball to put the redshirt-freshman in on the keeper. Perrell dribbled in and beat the Navy keeper with a hard shot to the right for her first collegiate goal.

Navy tied the game five minutes later with a shot from outside the box by Kahra Kelly. Kelly took a shot from 25-yards out, delivering it to the top right corner, just outside the reach of HPU keeper Jesse May to make the score 1-1.

The Midshipmen took a 2-1 lead in the 41st minute when they caused a turnover in the High Point defensive third and Cat Macklin finished with a shot inside the box to put Navy ahead heading into the half.

Navy increased its lead to 3-1 in the 53rd minute with a header by Kaylie Davidson off a corner kick from Morgan Dankanich. The score remained 3-1 until the 89th minute when Dankanich pounced on a loose ball in the High Point box and scored her fifth goal of the season.

High Point finished with seven shots in the game including five on goal. May made four saves in the contest for the Panthers.

Friday’s loss drops High Point to 0-5-0 on the season while Navy improves to 5-2-0.

HPU returns home on Sunday, Sept. 15, when the team will host Appalachian State at Vert Stadium. The game is set to kick off at 7 p.m.