• High Point advanced to the Big South Championship with a 1-0 overtime win against Longwood on Friday.
• Junior Becca Rolfe scored her second goal of the season in the 94th minute for HPU.
• Junior Alex Hank made one save and set a new HPU Div. I record with her 20th career shutout.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Becca Rolfe scored in the 94th minute to lift the top-seeded High Point University women’s soccer team to a 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Longwood on Friday night in Greensboro, N.C. The Panthers will play for their sixth Big South Championship on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The game between the Panthers and Lancers remained scoreless after 90 minutes of action forcing overtime at Macpherson Stadium. In the fourth minute of overtime, HPU earned a free kick in the offensive third and junior Paige Lloyd delivered a ball into the box. Junior Lindsay Elsen got inside her marker and headed the ball to the right post where Rolfe finished for her second goal of the season.
The win was High Point’s 13th of the season, a new program single-season record. The Panthers improve to 13-5-2 overall while Longwood finishes the season with an 8-10-2 record.
“I saw a great deal of passion from the girls tonight,” head coach Marty Beall said. “We started out very strong and were unlucky not to finish one of those chances early on. We kept battling for 94 minutes and I am very proud of the effort they put forth today.”
The Panthers controlled possession throughout the contest and finished with a 15-6 edge in shots. The team was held off the scoreboard thanks to several saves by Longwood’s Maria Kirby who finished with five stops.
Junior Alex Hank set a new HPU Div. I career record for shutouts with the clean sheet, her 10th of the season and the 20th of her career. Hank had one save in the game but it was a big one, securing a Lancer free kick from the top of the penalty area.
High Point advances to its seventh Big South Championship game with the win over Longwood. The Panthers are 1-0-5 in their six appearances and have won the conference crown a Big South-record five times. The team last appeared in the Big South Championship in 2014 when it advanced past Liberty on penalty kicks, 5-4, after playing to a 2-2 draw.
The Panthers will face the winner of the Big South Semifinals between No. 2-seed Liberty and No. 3-seed Campbell in the Big South Championship on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m., at Macpherson Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.