• Austin Yearwood scored a free kick goal in the second minute of overtime to give HPU a 2-1 win.
• High Point tied the game on a second-half goal by senior Mamadee Nyepon.
• The Panthers finished with a 20-11 edge in shots and a 8-3 advantage in shots on goal.

DAYTON, Ohio - Junior Austin Yearwood scored a free kick goal in the second minute of overtime to give the High Point University men's soccer team a 2-1 win over Dayton on Friday night in the Dayton Flyers Classic in Dayton, Ohio. The win was the Panthers' first of the season.

"I am proud of this team and their performance," head coach Dustin Fonder said. "We have come a long way in just one week. We were not satisfied with our game against UNC Wilmington and the guys really worked hard in practice this week. We showed a new effort level and that paid off tonight."

HPU earned a free kick at the right corner of the penalty area in the second minute of overtime and Yearwood lined up over the ball to take the shot. The Panther defender curled his shot past the keeper and into the top left corner of the goal to lift HPU to a 2-1 win.

The Panthers improved to 1-1-0 on the year with the win over the Flyers who drop to 0-2-0 on the season.

High Point fell behind to the Flyers in the 13th minute on a shot from outside the box by Rafael Gamboa. The midfielder took a shot from the middle of the field 25 yards away from goal and skipped it past HPU keeper Kody Palmer into the lower right corner.

Trailing 1-0 at the start of the second half, High Point came out and took control of the contest, outshooting Dayton 12-5 in the second 45 minutes with four shots on frame while holding Dayton without a shot on goal.

The Panthers broke through in the 78th minute with a goal by senior Mamadee Nyepon to knot the score at 1-1. The HPU forward pounced on a ball in the box during a scrum and drilled a shot into the net to pull High Point level.

The score remained 1-1 at the end of the regulation, sending the game into a golden goal overtime.

High Point finished the game with a 20-11 edge in shots and a 8-3 edge in shots on goal. Nyepon had a team-best five shots with two on goal while Yearwood finished with four shots.

Palmer earned the win in the game to improve to 1-1-0. The redshirt-junior made two saves in the game to pick up his first win of the season.

High Point will go for the tournament championship on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 11 a.m., when the Panthers take on Northern Kentucky. The Norse picked up a 1-0 overtime win against Detroit in the first game of the day on Friday.

#GoHPU

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