High Point MSOC Draws, 1-1, with Davidson

• Redshirt-junior Justen Shear posted his second goal of the season in the first half on an assist from redshirt-sophomore Bana Ganidekam.
• Redshirt-sophomore Pat Fallon made his season debut in net, playing the final 65 minutes and making a pair of saves.
• Sophomore Ryan Inman set a career high with a team-leading five shots for HPU

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The High Point University men’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 tie at Davidson on Tuesday night at Alumni Soccer Stadium. Redshirt-sophomore Justen Shear provided the lone goal for HPU.

“Davidson is a really organized and well-coached team,” head coach EJ O’Keeffe said. “For some reason, we’ve had trouble starting games this season,d and it cost us again tonight with them scoring an early goal. After that, we created some really good looks and were able to find the back of the net once. We’ve got to find some way to make sure that we’re starting games better and not putting ourselves in a hole. We’ll make that adjustment come Saturday and it’ll be nice to be back home.”

Davidson (4-0-1) was the aggressor early in the match, striking first in the 22nd minute. A cross from Quinn Dudek found Ned Morrissett on the left side of the box, who drilled it low left side past redshirt-sophomore Keegan Meyer for the opening tally.

The Panthers (2-2-1) surged after falling behind, titling the field in their advantage. Sophomore Ryan Inman had his shot blocked less than a minute after the Davidson goal. A minute later, redshirt-sophomore Bana Ganidekam found open space along the right portion of the box and had his shot saved.

The pressure continued in the 31st minute with Ganidekam flicking one to sophomore Jaime Vasconcellos, whose header was denied. HPU recollected though, and found the tying marker in the 32nd minute. Again it was Ganidekam on the setup, using a long centering cross to Shear, who half-volleyed it to the lower right side to even the match, 1-1.

Shear became the first Panther to score multiple goals this season, notching the fourth tally of his career. Ganidekam was credited with his fifth career assist and first of the season.

Following halftime, Inman provided HPU’s best chance to go ahead in the 52nd minute when his shot from outside the box was blasted off the cross bar and deflected high. The Wildcats regained control of possession in the final 25 minutes of the match, but were unable to get a shot on net against HPU’s new goalkeeper, Pat Fallon. High Point averted disaster in the waning seconds of regulation as an errant header nearly went in for an own goal, but trickled wide.

Each team had an early shot in the first overtime session, although neither was a threatening chance. The Wildcats had the best opportunity in the 99th minute with a free kick following a yellow card on High Point’s Ryeong Choi. The opportunity went awry as the kick skidded to a waiting HPU defender.

Fallon came up with the only save in the second overtime with a routine stop in the final minute. The redshirt-sophomore was making his first appearance of the year and second in his career. He ended up saving two shots in 65 minutes.

Davidson ended up with a slim 12-11 advantage in shots, including 3-1 in overtime. High Point held the edge in shots on goal, 5-4. The extremely even match featured six corner kicks a side with 12 fouls called on the Wildcats and 11 on the Panthers.

High Point returns to Vert Stadium on Saturday for its only home game in an eight-match stretch by hosting USC Upstate. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on the Big South Network.