Senior Michael Chesler (Highland, Utah/Mountain View) made a career-high 10 saves to help propel the High Point University men’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over Campbell on Tuesday night in the final game of the season at Vert Stadium.

“I was really pleased with the positive start to the game,” head coach Dustin Fonder said. “We challenged the players saying it was tournament time and that they should treat tonight like a tournament game and they responded. After we scored we took our foot off the game a little and Campbell took control in the second half but we did a really good job defending.”

The win is High Point’s second in a row and improves HPU’s record to 7-9-2 overall and 3-4-1 in the Big South. Campbell drops to 9-7-2 overall and 5-3-0 in the Big South.

High Point dictated the run of the game early with three quick shots in the opening minutes including a one-on-one opportunity for freshman Mamadee Nyepon (Greensboro, N.C./Walter Hines Page) that was stopped by Campbell keeper Ethan Hall in the second minute of play.

Campbell almost found a goal against the run of play in the 10th minute when both Justin Franz and Brian Urioste put shots on frame. Franz hit a shot from the edge of the box that forced a diving save by Chesler. The senior’s punch fell right to the feet of Urioste who attempted to hammer home the rebound but was denied by Chesler who made the save from the ground.

The Panthers broke through to take a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute when redshirt-junior Ryan Bennett (Cary, N.C./Cary Christian) found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Keith Cowdrey (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha Catholic) corralled an attempted clearance by the Camels on the right side of the field and immediately found the defender in the center of the box 15 yards in front of goal. Bennett received the ball and fired a shot past Hall into the net to put HPU up a goal.

In the second half, Campbell became the aggressor, maintaining possession and creating several scoring chances. Still the Camels were unable to get the ball past Chesler who made seven of his 10 saves following halftime.

CU’s best chance came in the 61st minute when Campbell was awarded a free kick from just outside the penalty area. Mitchell Cardenas lined up over the ball and hit a low bending shot the left post which Chesler just punched wide with a fully-extended diving save.

With Campbell pushing forward for a late goal, High Point added an insurance goal in the closing seconds when redshirt-junior Marty Stern (Little Silver, N.J./Communication) found a streaking Karo Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) for a goal and a 2-0 lead in the 90th minute. Stern ran onto a loose ball at midfield and laid off a through ball to the onrushing Okiomah who beat his defender before slotting a shot past the onrushing Hall for his sixth goal of the season.

Chesler’s 10 saves on the night helped him record his third shutout of the season and the fourth on the year for High Point. The clean sheet was the senior’s 19th of his career, further extending his HPU Div. I record. Chesler’s previous high for saves in a game was eight, which he accomplished three times with the last time being against Gardner-Webb in 2009. The Highland, Utah native has made 17 saves in the past two games and his 70 saves are third-most in the Big South.

High Point will attempt to win three games in a row for the first time this season on Saturday, Nov. 5, when the Panthers close out their regular season on the road at VMI at 1 p.m. HPU is 6-2-0 all-time against the Keydets and has won three-straight meetings between the two squads, including a 2-0 win at Vert last season.

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