Mountaineers Fall 2-0 to High Point

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Appalachian State women's soccer dropped their first match of the season when it fell 2-0 to High Point University on Friday evening.
"Today was a battle against a very good High Point team," head coach Sarah Strickland said. "While we had some great opportunities, their goalkeeper had several incredible saves. We definitely found some areas we need to improve before we start conference play. Despite the result, we saw some great attacking moments and huge opportunities created by Jenn Bass, Aubrey Fletcher, Jackie Nieradka, Jane Cline and Emmily Cowie."

The match was deadlocked for most of the evening as both teams battled hard defensively. It wasn't until the 79th minute when High Point's (2-0-1) Bailey Beattie scored off an over-the-top kick over goalkeeper Sam Steyl to put the Panthers up 1-0. HPU would put the game out of reach in the 90th minute on an unassisted goal by Tyler Gordon on a breakaway off an Appalachian free kick.

The Mountaineers (2-1-0) were held to just eight shots and four on goal, but were led on multiple efforts by Bass, Fletcher and Nieradka, who all kept the pressure on High Point's goalkeeper. Leading App State in shots were Cline and freshman Maggie Hanusek. Cline had two shots, both on goal, while Hanusek had two shots, one on goal.

Nieradka, Sarah Moon and Sarah Peatross all finished with one shot, while Cowie had one shot on goal.

Despite the two goals allowed, Steyl had a career-high seven saves in the match, as the Panthers launched 19 total shots on the evening.

The Mountaineers will play their second match of the weekend and the second of a three-match road trip at Radford on Sunday at 7 p.m.