Jocelyn's blog: "Sport"

Four Star Recruiting Class - The Panthers, pegged by some to be a sleeper team last year, began the 2012 season with a 9-0-0 mark in the month of September and entered the national rankings for the first time in the history of the program. However, reality came to town when the Panthers were 3-5-3 for the remainder of the season to finish with a 12-5-3 overall record that included a 5-3-2 mark in Big South Conference action which was good for the number five seed in the conference tournament. cheap soccer jerseys

Despite the decline in the second half of the season, the twelve wins by HPU in 2012 was the second-most victories in a single season (they had sixteen wins in 2010) since the Panthers began Division I play in 1999. This is a program that is beginning to make its presence known. 
Dustin Fonder will enter the 2013 season without the services of a very productive twelve member senior class that included five players who were four year starters. The departed senior starters include midfielders Shawn Sloan (6g, 1a), Shane Malcolm (6g, 6a) and Ryan Bennett (1g, 4a) and center backs Fejiro Okiomah (2g, 0a) and Todd Ray (0g, 3a). Sloan and Okiomah were All-Big South First Team selections while Malcolm was an All-Big South Second Team member. Losing so many key contributors puts pressure on some younger less experienced players to help pick up the slack sooner rather than later.cheap jerseys
Fonder will rely on a core group of five returning starters and a thirteen member recruiting class that consists of four transfers and nine true freshmen to keep the Panthers in the hunt for the Big South Conference title in 2013. No matter how you spin it, High Point has some rebuilding to accomplish in 2013.