HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University men's soccer team improved to 9-0-0 on the season after picking up a hard fought 1-0 win over William & Mary on Tuesday night at Vert Stadium. Senior Shane Malcolm scored the lone goal of the contest for HPU.

“I am really pleased with our performance against a tough opponent tonight,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “We had to deal with some adversity but dealt with it in a positive way. William & Mary is a quality team that is nationally relevant. They have been averaged a 24 RPI over the past four years so we knew this was a game where we had to get a result.”

With the win, the Panthers finish the first half of their schedule unbeaten and untied. High Point is one of just three teams in the nation that has yet to drop a point in 2012. William & Mary falls to 2-5-2 overall with the loss, the Tribe's fourth one-goal defeat of the season.

HPU continued its recent trend of jumping out to an early lead as Malcolm scored in the third minute to put the Panthers up 1-0. Senior Shawn Sloan dispossessed a Tribe midfielder and caught the William & Mary backline stepping up with a through ball into the box. Malcolm made a diagonal run through the defense and onto the ball. The midfielder took a touch around the keeper and finished with a shot past a defender who had tracked back to the goal line. The goal was Malcolm's fifth of the season.

With a one-goal lead to preserve, High Point's defense limited William & Mary's opportunities in an increasingly physical contest. The Panthers did not allow a shot by the Tribe in the first half and held William & Mary without a shot on goal throughout the game. High Point finished the game with a 14-8 edge in shots.

Redshirt-freshman Kody Palmer was untested on the night but picked up his third-straight clean sheet and his sixth of the season. Palmer has allowed just four goals on the season and just one in HPU's last seven games.

Following the conclusion of a stretch in which the Panthers played five game in 13 days, High Point will get a week off before returning to Vert Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 3, to face VMI. The match is the last of six-straight home games for HPU and will kickoff at 7 p.m. High Point is 7-2-0 all-time against the Keydets. 

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