Piedmont Triad Derby Goes the Distance as HPU Women’s Soccer Draws With UNCG

Site: Greensboro, N.C.
Score: High Point 0, UNCG 0
Records: High Point 0-0-1 , UNCG 0-0-1

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The High Point University women’s soccer team (0-0-1) went the distance with UNCG on Thursday night (Aug. 19) in the latest installment of the Piedmont Triad Derby. Morgan Hairston had her best performance to date in a High Point uniform with a career-high eight saves made. The game took place in front of a capacity crowd of nearly 2,000 people, the third most attended game in UNCG Women’s Soccer history.

Video Highlights

“I was really happy overall with our mentality we didn’t waver at any point we just kept creating more opportunities for ourselves, they just weren’t falling for us,” Coach Brandi Fontaine said after the Draw with UNCG. “I’m proud of the steps we took especially coming off a game like the one we had against UNC where we got beat up a little bit. With that said, I am glad to have had this opportunity to play against a really good UNCG team and compete with them. Sometimes in soccer it just does not fall your way but I am glad we ended strongly. We know it’s there we are just trying to put that final piece together.”

UNCG applied pressure early earning a corner kick in the first minute of the game, but the Panthers were able to hold the Spartans. UNCG had possession to begin the game but Hairston set the tone with two big saves in the early going.

After a flurry of UNCG offense to start the game HPU answered with chances of their own.

Salomé Prat connected with Skyler Prillaman for what looked like a chance to break the 0-0 tie.

Mazich nearly set up Mashinski late in the first half for the Panthers to jump in front, but the Spartan defense held strong.

Shots were even at the half, each side with five. It was a great first half for Hairston as she made five saves in the half.

In the 62nd minute, Shaylyn Owen stepped up in a big way as she blocked a Spartan shot that would have been a quality opportunity for UNCG.

Prillaman took a shot from deep in the 69th minute of play her chance crashed off of the crossbar and the game remained tied at 0.

Two minutes later Hairston continued to impress as the North Carolina native made a SportsCenter-worthy save as she soared across the goal and punched away a hard UNCG shot.

Fontaine on Hairston: “It was the best performance Morgan has had for us, she has been fantastic in training. This is something that we have hoped for her and now seeing so many shots in the first couple games we have had, she came out today put in a true performance for us. She was composed in everyway that we needed her to be and she made great decisions as well as some big time saves. We are extremely happy with her performance it’s good to see her confidence boosting at another lever for her I think she only has more room to grow from here.”

After 90 minutes the two sides remained at 0 and required overtime.

Mashinski had a great chance to start the first overtime period that was saved by the Spartan goalkeeper.

Owen again made a big defensive stop in Overtime to keep the game locked at 0.

In the second half, HPU’s shot count jumped up to 15 shots as the Purple & White ended with a total of 20 shots on the night.

In the second overtime, HPU fired shots early and often with several opportunities that just missed the net with shots coming from Alex DePerno, Chloe Le Franc, Owen, and Prat. Prat hit the crossbar in the 107th minute as the late effort almost sent Panther fans who made trip home happy.

The draw is just the second in the history of the Piedmont Triad Derby.

HPU returns to action under the bright lights of the ACC Network on national TV against Wake Forest at 7:00 PM in Winston-Salem on Sunday Night (Aug. 22).