FARMVILLE, Va. – Second-place High Point made a pair of first-half goals from Siggi Benoysson and Ryan Inman stand en route to a 2-0 win over Longwood Saturday evening at the Longwood Athletics Complex.
 
Inman started the scoring with a go-ahead strike in the 11th minute, and Benoysson padded the lead with an insurance goal 15 minutes later to give the Big South unbeaten Panthers (9-5, 5-0) their fifth win in the past six games.

Both Inman and Benoysson helped High Point make the most of its opportunities against Longwood (5-7, 0-4), as the Lancer backfield held the Panthers to just four shots on goal in a defensive slugfest.

"We struggled to contain High Point in their early phases of play and through that spotted them two goals, which they do well," said head coach Jon Atkinson. "However, at half time I thought we weren't out of it as we had two or three really good looks but for poor execution."
 
Longwood shut down the High Point attack after Benoysson's goal, but High Point's defensive unit was equally stifling and became only the fourth team to shut out the high-powered Lancer attack this season. High Point goalkeeper Keegan Meyer contributed five saves to that effort to trim his goals against to 1.06 on the year, the second lowest in the Big South.
 
After finding the net in five of their past six games, the Lancers came up empty on five shots on goal against High Point. Longwood opened the second half with great energy and intensity but could not break through after High Point's back line absorbed pressure with the 2-0 lead.

"The second half, we tackled the game as we should with a purpose and desire to get back on level terms and gave a good account of ourselves," Atkinson said. "If the second half matched the first, we would not find ourselves in this situation, and similarly, that statement could stand for the majority of hte games this year."

"Nevertheless, at this level you are defined by the ability to hurt teams, and we haven't been able to do that of late even though we crafted some good openings on the back of plenty of possession.I was delighted with a number of lads who came in and showed they are up for the fight, and, with some time, will compete well at this level."

The win extends High Point's unbeaten streak through the Big South this season and continues a dominant stretch in which they have emerged as the conference's second-highest scoring team and second-stingiest defensive team in Big South play. Saturday's shutout was the Panther's Big South-leading third in conference play.
 
Longwood will now enter a final four-game stretch of the 2019 regular season, which begins with a trip to Blacksburg, Va., this Tuesday, Oct. 22, to face ACC member Virginia Tech on the road. That precedes three consecutive Big South games to close out the season with trips to Campbell (Oct. 28) and Radford (Nov. 6) planned along with the home finale against UNC Asheville on Saturday, Nov. 2.
 
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