HPU men’s soccer suffers 2OT loss at Presbyterian College, 2-1

• High Point lost in double overtime at Presbyterian College by a score of 2-1 on Saturday.
• Freshman Jaime Vasconcellos scored his first collegiate goal in the contest to tie the game for the Panthers.
• HPU outshot Presbyterian College, 26-7, and had an 11-2 edge in shots on goal in the contest.

CLINTON, S.C. – The High Point University men’s soccer team fell in double overtime at Presbyterian College by a score of 2-1 on Saturday afternoon in Clinton, S.C. Freshman Jaime Vasconcellos scored the lone goal in the game for HPU.

“This is a tough loss, but that is the game of soccer sometimes,” head coach EJ O’Keeffe said. “I give a lot of credit to Presbyterian College and their coaching staff, they executed their game plan very well. We got the ball into spots where we wanted it today, but our final product and execution was not what we needed it to be. We will look to clean that up as we get ready to head into South Carolina on Wednesday.”

The Panthers drop to 5-2-1 overall on the season an 0-1-0 in the Big South. Presbyterian College improves to 3-6-0 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play.

High Point fell behind on a goal by the Blue Hose’s Mason Lewis in the 62nd minute as the forward tapped it in after an unlucky bounce over the head of HPU keeper Keegan Meyer.

The Panthers tied the game up in the closing minutes of regulation as Vasconcellos notched his first collegiate goal in the 87th minute off a rebound from a shot by redshirt-freshman Bana Ganidekam to send the game to overtime.

The game-winning goal came in the 105th minute when Cade Crow scored on a ball that took a deflection off Meyer to give the Blue Hose the win.

The Panthers outshot Presbyterian College, 26-7, in the contest and had 11 shots on target compared to just two for the hosts. Ganidekam, senior Chris Ramsell and freshmen Chad Poarch and Jon Bolanos all had at least four shots and redshirt-freshman Ben Hietala forced three saves, including one in overtime.

High Point returns to action on Wednesday, Sept. 28, when the team travels to Columbia, S.C., to face the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.