The High Point University women’s soccer team set a new program record with its fifth-straight shutout in a 4-0 win over UNC Asheville on Thursday afternoon in Asheville, N.C. The Panthers scored a season-high four goals in the win.

“I was very pleased with today’s performance,” head coach Marty Beall said. This is a difficult place to play and UNC Asheville is a dangerous team going forward so for us to come up here and get a shutout was fantastic. It was great to get four goals. We keep working on things in practice and know eventually it will click. That started today which is exciting with the conference tournament next week.”

The Panthers’ five-straight clean sheets break the previous record of four-straight which was set in 1993, the program’s second year in existence. HPU’s previous high in the Division I era was three-straight which the team last accomplished at the Big South tournament last season.

“Whenever we set new records it shows our growth and development as a program,” Beall said. “We understand that defense wins championships so we spend a lot of time focusing on tightening things up defensively both in our midfield and in the back. This record is great testament our team defending and the players’ commitment to each other and what we are doing as a program.”

Senior Katie Taber (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) and sophomore Kelli Joline (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) each finished with a goal and an assist and freshman Jacky Kessler (Middletown, Md./Middletown) posted two assists for High Point who moves to .500 on the season with an 8-8-3 overall record with the win. The Panthers also improve to 6-1-2 in the Big South, matching their conference win total from last season.

The loss was Asheville’s third straight and dropped the Bulldogs record to 4-14-0 and 3-6-0 in conference play.

Taber got High Point on the board early with a goal in the 12th minute when she got behind the defense and scored to put the Panthers up 1-0. The senior ran a give-and-go with Kessler to get free in the box before slotting a low shot to the left post for her second goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, the Panthers doubled their lead as Joline got loose on the right side of the box and beat the keeper with a shot to the near post to put HPU up by two in the 13th minute. Kessler set Joline free on the right flank with a ball over the top from the center of the pitch. The goal was the sophomore’s team-best eighth of the season.

The Panthers continued to apply offensive pressure in the second half and in the 58th minute pushed their lead to 3-0 on a header by sophomore Becca Hemby (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson). Taber found space on the right side of the field off a pass from Joline and hit a cross to the far post where Hemby calmly headed it into the empty net for her fifth goal of the season.

Sophomore Cary Ann Parrish (Norwalk, Calif./Valley Christian) scored High Point’s final goal of the game in the 79th minute, beating the keeper in a one-on-one breakaway to make the score 4-0. Sophomore Jesse May (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) started the play with a goal kick to midfield where junior Jenny Butler (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) flicked the ball on to Parrish behind the Asheville defense. Parrish dribbled in on the Bulldog keeper before sliding a shot just inside the left post for her second goal of the season.

The Panthers finished the game with a 13-6 edge in shots. High Point had eight shots on goal while also limiting a dangerous Asheville offense to just one shot on frame in the match.

Senior Andrea Ritchie (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) played 72 minutes and made one diving save to move into first place in the High Point Division I career record books with 22 wins. The senior keeper has not allowed a goal in 490 minutes of action stretching back to the game at Gardner-Webb on Oct. 8. Through nine games, Ritchie has a 0.53 goals-against average and .848 save percentage in Big South play.

High Point will close out its regular season on Saturday, Oct. 29, when the team heads to Clinton, S.C., to face Presbyterian College. HPU is 3-2-1 in six all-time meetings with the Blue Hose. Last season, the Panthers picked up a 3-1 win at home over PC thanks to goals by Joline, junior Janay Whittaker (Stone Mountain, Ga./Paideia) and Sara Rager.