No. 13 High Point University men’s soccer has made history, after becoming the first team to make the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament in program history. The 2018 Panthers are also the first men’s program in the history of HPU to earn an at-large bid to a championship tournament as they will play host to CAA Champs James Madison this Thursday at 7 p.m.
This week’s match will be the first NCAA Division I Tournament contest to be hosted by High Point University. A victory over the Dukes would send the Panthers to a second-round match at No. 5 UNC, as they share the Chapel Hill regional with No. 12 Virginia Tech, Charlotte and Georgia State.
After winning their second straight Big South regular season title, the Panthers are on the way to their most successful season in program history. The team has already made history a hand full of times this season, achieving the highest poll-ranking of any High Point team in school history (12th), beating the highest-ranked team in the program’s history (No. 5 Duke) and setting a Division I program record with a regular season win percentage of .844.
The club also landed a program-record six players on this year’s Big South First-Team All-Conference team, while sweeping conference superlatives for the first time in history. Forward Illilas Kosmidas, midfielders Tony Pineda and Ryan Inman, defenders Rashid Tetten and Johnny Fenwick, along with goalkeeper Keegan Meyer each received first-team recognition.
The Panthers also swept the 2018 superlatives, with Kosmidis earning Big South Attacking Player of the Year, Fenwick collecting Big South Defensive Player of the Year, Pineda garnering Big South Co-Freshman of the Year honors and Head Coach EJ O’Keeffe getting recognized as Big South Coach of the Year.
The Panthers have never played James Madison (12-4-3), but are 34-22-13 against current CAA members all-time, as they prepare for the deepest postseason run of the program’s Division I history.
Tickets for Thursday night’s contest will run at $8 dollars per person, or $3 with a valid High Point University student ID. Tickets can be purchased online, or bought at the entrance to Vert Stadium an hour prior to kickoff.