HIGH POINT, N.C. – Big South regular-season champion High Point got a hat trick from Big South goals leader Sam Gerhart and cruised to a 4-1 win over fourth-place Longwood in the regular-season finale for both teams Thursday afternoon at Vert Stadium.
 
The Lancers (4-2-3, 4-2-3 Big South), whose season-opening seven-game unbeaten streak snapped just one game prior in a 2-0 loss at second-place Radford, were the last team standing between the Panthers and an undefeated regular season, but Gerhart made sure the Panthers (9-0-0, 8-0-0 Big South) ended their 2021 spring just as it started, with a win.
 
The loss caps the regular season for both teams and previews a semifinal showdown between the teams in the upcoming 2021 Big South Women's Soccer Championship. The Lancers will be seeded No. 4 in the condensed four-team tournament this year, while the Panthers earned the league's top seed.  
 
Cementing that semifinal matchup was Gerhart, the reigning Big South Freshman of the Year and third-place vote-getter in the 2021 Big South Preseason Player of the Year poll who entered the game with a league-leading seven goals. Her hat trick pushed her scoring total to double digits and came against a staunch Longwood defense that had allowed just four goals all season.
 
"We had a plan and executed it to near perfection in the first half," said Longwood head coach Todd Dyer, who is now leading the Lancers into their seventh Big South Championship tournament in eight years as a member of the conference.
 
"We defended well, looked to counter-attack and had a few really good looks at goal. It's frustrating to concede that first goal off a set piece because that is what broke the game open. However, we scored the last goal of the game, and that was against the regular-season champion. We can't wait to get back here for the tournament semifinal next week."
 
With the win, High Point becomes the first team since Radford in 1999 to win every single Big South regular-season contest.
 
Longwood shut out the Panthers through the game's first 50 minutes, battling to a scoreless draw at halftime. But just 5:04 after the opening whistle of the second half, Gerhart headed in the first of her three second-half strikes and followed with another just over 16 minutes later to make it a 2-0 lead. Her fellow forward Skyler Prillaman added another goal in the 70th minute before Gerhart completed her first career hat trick in the 81st minute.
 
High Point's four goals were the most Longwood has allowed to a Big South foe since High Point won 5-0 in the opening round of the 2015 Big South Championship.
 
Longwood did manage to snap High Point's 311-minute shutout streak in the 81st minute when freshman Amanda Arnone found the back of the net on a pass from fellow freshman Katelyn Laux. That sequence started at midfield when Laux won a one-on-one battle for the ball and threaded a needle of a pass through High Point's backline to a charging Arnone, who connected with it mid-stride to beat High Point goalkeeper Morgan Hairston just inside the box.
 
Now with their regular season complete, the Lancers will have five days to prepare for a rematch against the Panthers, which is set for next Tuesday, April 13 on ESPN+. The winner of that matchup will face the winner of No. 2 seed Campbell and No. 3 seed Radford in the Big South Championship game.
 
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