RADFORD, Va. – A trio of late second-half goals propelled visiting High Point to a 3-1 win over the Radford men's soccer team on Saturday night at Cupp Stadium, spoiling senior night for the Highlanders in the process.
On a night where Radford honored defenders
Thure Ilgner and
Jacob Wilkinson, midfielders
Victor Valls and
Wyatt Erzen and forward
Liam Deacy, the Highlanders got off to a quick start, firing seven shots in the first 45 minutes.
Dondre' Robinson forced High Point goalkeeper Keegan Meyer into an early save with a high shot from outside the box less than 10 minutes into the contest.
Baye Djibril Faye had the best chance for the Highlanders in the opening half on a breakaway where he crossed over a Panther defender, but the shot was scuffed and resulted in an easy save for Meyer. Radford's defense prevented High Point from generating any significant first-half chances, and the teams went into the intermission scoreless.
Radford opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the second half, as early pressure by the Highlander attack forced a takeaway by
Mouhameth Thiam, who then sent a pass ahead that was deflected to the feet of Faye. Faye fed Thiam with a touch pass that he took into the box and shot past Meyer into the bottom left corner for the opening goal.
High Point responded just 13 minutes later, as Ilias Kosmidis beat multiple Radford defenders around the edge and fired a shot past Highlander goalkeeper
Joseba Incera in the 59th minute to even the score at one goal apiece. The Panthers took the lead just four minutes later, as a shot off a corner kick hit off of Robinson and landed in the net for an own goal, putting the visitors ahead, 2-1.
Kosmidis netted his second of the game in the 84th minute to close the scoring, taking a pass from Johathan Bolanos and beating Incera to put the game out of reach.
STAT OF THE MATCH
Thiam has now scored the opening goal in each of Radford's last two home matches. The freshman midfielder also turned a turnover into a goal in Radford's match against USC Upstate on October 16. Faye's assist on the goal by Thiam is the first of his career.
TWEET OF THE MATCH
TEAM LEADERS
Robinson led all players in shots with three. Thiam, Faye and
Octavio Ocampo each had two shots for the Highlanders.
UP NEXT
The Highlanders will close out the regular season with one final home match on Nov. 6 against Longwood at 7 p.m. Radford will have to play that match without Ocampo, who will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation. In order to qualify for the Big South Championship, Radford will have to either win or draw against Longwood, depending on other results in the next week, and get some help from other teams.
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For more information on the Radford men's soccer team visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordMSOC on Twitter, 'radfordmsoc' Instagram or Radford Men's Soccer on Facebook.
