HPU men’s soccer tied with Liberty on the road, 1-1

• High Point and Liberty played to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday afternoon in Lynchburg, Va.
• Sophomore Johnny Fenwick scored the lone goal of the day for HPU.
• The Panthers push their undefeated streak to seven in a row with the tie.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The High Point University men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Liberty on Wednesday afternoon in Lynchburg, Va. Sophomore Johnny Fenwick scored his first goal of the season for HPU in the draw.

“I thought we came out flat in the first 45 minutes today,” head coach EJ O’Keeffe said. “Liberty was able to find an opportunity early and punished us with a goal. We responded after halftime and were well on top of the game in the second half. I thought we were unfortunate not to find more than one goal. That being said, a draw is probably a fair result for the match today given how the game went.”

The Panthers are undefeated in their last seven games and they move to 10-3-3 overall and 4-1-1 in the Big South with the draw. Liberty moves to 6-7-2 overall and 3-2-1 in conference play.

Liberty got on the board against the run of play, taking advantage of a counter attack in the sixth minute. Tresor Mbuyu saw his first shot saved, but he jumped on the rebound with a sliding shot for the goal.

The Panthers came back to tie the game in the 66th minute on Fenwick’s goal, the second of the sophomore’s career. HPU earned a corner kick and senior Renato Punyed delivered a ball to the far post where Fenwick took it out of the air with his shot, sending it into goal to knot the game at 1-1.

High Point controlled possession late in regulation and in both overtime periods but was unable to find a game winner. The Panthers finished with a slim 12-11 edge in shots on the day with HPU managing to put just four on goal compared to seven for the Flames.

Redshirt-freshman Keegan Meyer had five saves in the draw to move his record to 9-3-3 this season.

High Point concludes its regular season home schedule with a game against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. The Panthers will honor their five seniors prior to first kick.