HIGH POINT, N.C. – In a battle of two teams deadlocked for the third spot in the Big South standings, High Point emerged with a 15-6 win over Longwood Sunday at Vert Stadium to stay in the hunt for a top-four seed with the Big South Tournament less than 10 days away.
 
High Point (6-9, 4-2 Big South) used a combined five goals and five assists from attacker Kendyl Gardner and midfielder Leah Pace to leapfrog the Lancers into a tie for third place on the conference leaderboard. Gardner scored twice and threw out three assists, while Pace found the back of the net three times and assisted twice to lead the Panthers to their fourth straight home win.
 
Four of Gardner and Pace's five goals came during a first-half run in which the Panthers opened the game with nine straight goals and entered halftime with a 10-2 lead. The hole the Lancers (5-11, 3-3 Big South) dug for themselves in the first 30 minutes proved too deep to overcome against a High Point defense that allowed only 12 shots the entire game.
 
High Point shut down every Lancer except freshman Madison Stair, who scored on all three of her shots en route to her fifth multi-goal game of the season. Sarah Arndt, Katie McHugh and Liz Trainer added goals for Longwood, but High Point's 15-8 draw control advantage and nine caused turnovers bottled up the rest of a Longwood offense that entered the game averaging 12.2 goals per game in Big South play.
 
The Gardner and Pace-led Panthers scored on nine of their first 11 shots on goal before Trainer broke up the scoring onslaught with an unassisted goal with seven minutes remaining in the first half. Just 25 seconds later, though, Pace responded with her third goal of the half to put High Point up 10-1.
 
That run continued after halftime as the Panthers scored four straight out of the break before the Lancers took hold with a 4-1 surge over the final 12 minutes of the game. Arndt sparked the run and Stair finished it with three straight goals, but the lone consolation was cutting High Point's lead to single digits.
 
With one regular season game remaining, Longwood sits in sole possession of fifth place in the conference standings, while High Point climbs back to a tie for third alongside Coastal Carolina, both one game ahead of the Lancers and one game behind undefeated Winthrop and Liberty. Winthrop and Liberty maintain the top two spots in the Big South, both with undefeated conference records leading into Tuesday's conference-deciding showdown between the two top-dwellers.
 
The Lancers will play their final tuneup before the conference tournament this Friday, April 24, against Liberty at the Longwood Athletics Complex. Prior to the 6 p.m. start, the Lancers will honor their seven seniors as part of Senior Day.

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