• High Point and Towson played to a 2-2 draw on Friday afternoon in Towson, Md.
• Sophomores Taylor Romano and Paige Rombach both scored for the Panthers.
• High Point matches its best start to a season in program history at 1-0-2.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s soccer team played Towson to a 2-2 draw on Friday afternoon in Towson, Md. Sophomores Taylor Romano and Paige Rombach both scored for HPU.
“I thought we did ok today,” head coach Marty Beall said. “We need to have a better energy level throughout the match. Credit to the team though, they fought through the fatigue and came away with a result.”
The Panthers improve to 1-0-2 overall with the draw, matching the team’s 2014 start for HPU’s best start in program history. Towson moves to 0-2-1 with the draw.
Towson jumped out to a one-goal lead in the 10th minute on a free kick by Emily Marshall. The Tigers earned a free kick just outside the box and Marshall hit a shot under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.
Romano tied the game at a goal apiece with her first collegiate goal on a free kick from the edge of the penalty area. Romano rocketed a shot past the wall and into the net to knot the game at one.
The Purple & White took a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute on a goal by Rombach, her first of the season. Fellow sophomore Meredith Dunker lofted a cross into the box to Rombach who finished from 10-yards out. The assist was Dunker’s third in the past two games.
Towson came back to tie the game just eight minutes later on a goal by Natalia Pinkney. The Tigers played a long ball towards goal where Pinkney played it around sophomore keeper Alex Persiani before hitting a shot from outside the penalty area into the empty net.
Sophomore Lindsay Elsen forced two saves in the first overtime period. The first cam early in the period when Elsen put a header on frame off a corner kick by Romano. The second came with just over two minutes left in the period when she let loose a shot from distance that forced a jumping save by the Towson keeper.
The Panthers had one final shot to claim the win but a shot from just in front of goal by sophomore Bri Jean-Charles in the 110th minute was saved as the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
HPU ended the game with a 22-11 advantage in shots and a 11-5 edge in shots on goal. The Panthers also put up seven corner kicks to Towson’s two. Persiani made two saves in goal for High Point while Towson’s Taylor Sebolao stopped eight shots in the match.
High Point continues its tour through Maryland with a game against Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 1 p.m.