Regular Season Finale: GWU Falls at Home to High Point, 2-1
November 03, 2013 | Men's Soccer
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Gardner-Webb picked up a first half goal from leading scorer Denzel Clarke, yet saw High Point score the final two goals of the match to defeat the Runnin' Bulldogs 2-1 at home on Saturday at Greene-Harbison Field in GWU's regular season finale.
The loss drops GWU to 9-7-1 overall and 6-4-0 in the Big South, while the win propels High Point to 6-7-3 overall and 4-2-2 in League play.
GWU's Clarke receive a thru ball at the top of the box and put a shot past the keep and into the right side of the goal in the 11th minute to put the home team on top early. However, High Point answered with a goal from Sonny Mukungu in the 15th minute and what would prove to be the game-winner in the 57th minute from Adam Sewell to edge the Runnin' Bulldogs 2-1.
Gardner-Webb looked to score first early, as Clarke forced High Point goalkeeper Kody Palmer to make a quick save in the 10th minute, then put the second shot of the match into the back of the net less than a minute later to put the home team up early at 1-0.
In the 11th minute, Clarke received a pass that cut through the Panther defense from fellow teammate Patrick Gürser and then took a touch to the left and put a ball past Palmer on the right side and into the back of the net. The goal was Clarke's 16th of the season.
However, minutes later, like GWU, High Point put back-to-back shots together with the second one accounting for a goal.
The Panthers' Pat Shelton placed a header off the crossbar in the 15th minute, which bounded back into play where Mukungu put a shot over GWU's Matthew Swan's hands to tie the match up at 1-1. The goal was Mukungu's first of the season.
GWU looked to retake the lead less than 10 minutes later, as Ali Al-Gashamy took a shot off a free kick from just over 23 yards out only to see Palmer make his second stop of the match on the play.
The Runnin' Bulldogs' Swan was up for the ask on the other side of the field, as the freshman goalkeeper made a stop on another Shelton shot attempt in the 21st minute to keep the match knotted up at 1-1.
High Point then began to control possession of the ball over the next 10 minutes of play, as the visitors got shots from Ben Burdon and Mamadee Nyepon and outshot the home team 3-0 over, yet saw the GWU defense stand up to the surge and keep the Panthers from scoring the goal ahead goal.
With time winding down in the opening half, GWU picked up a shot from Gürser in the 40th minute and then another attempt from Al-Gashamy in the 44th minute, but couldn't find the back of the net to send the match to the halftime intermission tied at 1-1.
Both the physicality and the intensity picked up in the second half, as both Palmer and Swan each made a save in the opening minutes of the final frame.
However, this time it would be the Panthers who would strike first, as HPU's Sewell scored the go-ahead goal in the 57th minute.
On the play, Renato Punyed played a corner kick to the top near corner of the box to Austin Yearwood who put a cross to the back post where Sewell was unmarked and put a shot past a diving Swan to put the Panthers in front at 2-1.
Gardner-Webb were within inches of tying the match up in the 66th minute, as Clarke, with his back to the goal, kicked a thru ball with his right heel towards the goal from five-yards out and saw it roll across the box and off the front left post.
Al-Gashamy saw his shot attempt sail wide of the goal in the 70th minute, while both Kevin Comvalius and Al-Gashamy had two scoring chances find the open arms of High Point's Palmer in the middle of the goal in the 73rd and 77th minutes, respectively.
Swan made stops in the 82nd minute, the 86th minute and once again in the 87th minute to keep the score at 2-1 and give the home team a chance to tie the match up as the second half ticked away.
However, GWU would not be able to record another shot for the game, as the Panthers escaped with a 2-1 road win.
Swan (9-7-1) recorded five saves in the loss, while Palmer (5-3-1) tallied six saves in the win for the Panthers.
Al-Gashamy and Clarke led the GWU attack with four and three goals, respectively, while Gürser and Comvalius combined for the other three shot attempts for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Nyepon's five shots led the Panthers offensively, while Shelton was next on the shot chart with three shots on the night.
High Point outshot the Runnin' Bulldogs 17-10 for the match and held a slight 8-7 advantage in shots on goal on the night.
Gardner-Webb (9-7-1, 6-4-0 Big South) will now have the week off over the final week of play and will wait and see when and where they will return to action in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Big South Men's Soccer Championship Tournament slated to start on Tuesday, November 12th.
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| Box Score: High Point 2, Gardner-Webb 1 |
