HPU WSOC Panthers Drop Road Contest at Wake Forest

Site: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Score: Wake Forest 3, High Point 0
Records: Wake Forest 2-0-0, High Point 0-1-1

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The High Point University women’s soccer team (0-1-1) fell to Wake Forest (2-0-0) 3-0 on Sunday night (Aug. 22) in HPU’s national television debut on The ACC Network. It was the team’s first loss of the young season after playing to a draw with UNCG last Thursday.

Brandi Fontaine: “I felt like we battled and competed all night with them,” Coach Fontaine said. “I think more than anything I’m just really proud of our team for playing the way we wanted to. There are a lot of things that we talked about after the last game that we wanted to take steps forward on. It’s unfortunate that we gave up two goals on set pieces which is something we will focus on this week. There are a lot of other positives that we talked about this week that we wanted to be better at such as our midfielders tracking runners, we did a much better job in a lot of areas. We are just going to keep taking it game by game, looking to improve each day, and trusting the process.”

Bright Lights in Primetime

Sunday’s contest was broadcasted on ACC Network and marked the first nationally televised game in program history.

Panther Particulars

Wake Forest took the early advantage, scoring in the third minute of the game to go up 1-0. High Point’s first shot of the contest came in the tenth minute when Chloe Le Franc sent a shot off target.

Settling In

After the initial Wake Forest goal, High Point allowed just two more shots in the next 36 minutes of play. In the 13th minute of play, Alex Deperno made an impressive block out in front to keep the Demons Deacon lead at one.

Wake Forest continued looking for chances to extend its lead but Morgan Hairston denied a great scoring chance in the first half’s final five minutes to keep the game 1-0.

Using the shot opportunity to catapult a late first-half push, Wake Forest was able to add another goal in the 40th minute to take a 2-0 advantage into the break. Lauren Mazich had the Panthers’ lone shot on goal in the first half, forcing the Wake Forest keeper to make a save in the game’s 36th minute.

Creating Chances

HPU came out firing after the break, creating two shot opportunities less than a minute apart early in the second half. The first came after Skyler Prillaman made a nifty move but was unable to get a shot off. Moments later, the Panthers were able to get a cross to Magdalena Schwarz who put a shot just wide off the net.

As the Panthers’ defense continued keeping Wake Forest at bay, the Purple and White offense continued attacking, getting their best scoring chance of the game in the 74th minute from Prillaman.

Wake’s third and final goal of the contest came in the 84th minute and while the Panthers never found the back of the net, they finished the contest with six shots, led by Mazich’s two.

The Panthers will be back in action Thursday (Aug. 26) when they host UNC Wilmington at Vert Stadium in the season’s home opener. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be streamed live on ESPN+.