HPU Women’s Soccer: Panthers Rout Mountaineers In Regular Season Opener, 4-0

• High Point University won its season opener this Friday, shutting out Appalachian State 4-0 at home
• Two HPU true freshman scored their first career goals on the night, with Caitlin Shepherd scoring in the 44th minute and Skyler Prillaman tallying one in the 69th
• Junior defender Brie Deel and redshirt freshman Charla Ward each scored the first goals of their career as well, burying chances in the 51stand 85thminute respectively
• Keepers Emily Lyon and Talia Klimes combined for a four-save shutout, with each picking up a pair a pair of stops
• The Panthers have now defeated the Mountaineers by a total of 5-0 over their previous two contests, holding opponents scoreless in six of their previous nine matches going back to 2017

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point continued its trend of success on opening night this Friday after dropping visiting Appalachian State by a final score of 4-0. The Panthers are now undefeated in their last five season-opening matches, and improve their all-time record against the Mountaineers to 5-3.

“I’m super excited about how the team did,” HPU head coach Brandi Fontaine said, “and I really think they came out and performed in a way that I’m so excited about.”

HPU jumped on visiting App State early in the Panthers’ season opener, with the home team’s offensive pressure amounting to seven corners in the opening 45 minutes. Shepherd would open her team’s scoring for 2018 after burying a strike in the side netting from just above the 18 yard box.

Their continued pressure and set pieces produced the Panthers’ second goal of the night, with Deel scoring just six minutes into the second half, heading in a perfectly aimed corner from junior Ashlyn Kearney.

Freshman SkylerPrillaman recorded her first goal in purple and white, after splitting two defenders and burying the third goal of the night in the bottom left corner. Redshirt-freshman CharlaWard was the second Panther to benefit from her team’s superiority on corner kicks, with a scramble inside the six-yard box dropping the ball to the forward’s foot in prime scoring position.

The night’s win over App State marks Fontaine’s first at the helm of the HPU program, after spending nine years in the associate head coach and assistant coach positions.

COMING UP NEXT
The Panthers continue their non-conference season with a matchup on the road at UNCW, with kickoff slated for a time of 6 p.m. this Sunday.