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GAME NOTES

BLACKSBURG - The VIrginia Tech men's soccer team is coming off two shutouts last week as they travel to High Point University on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. to take on the Panthers.

On Friday night, the Hokies were able to remain unbeaten all-time against Pittsburgh as they drew 0-0 in double overtime. The draw also improved the team’s road record to an impressive 3-1-2 on the season and bumped the Hokies up into fourth place in the Coastal Division in front of both Pittsburgh and Duke.

The Hokies have posted two straight shutouts and haven’t allowed a goal in 234:48 minutes of action. Sophomore goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard made 15 saves in the two games including a career-best nine saves vs. Pittsburgh.

Offensively, the Hokies rank T-41st in the nation in shots on goal per game at 6.27. The are also T-63rd in total goals (18) and T-61st in scoring offense (1.64). Merlin Baus ranks T-47th in the country in points per game at 1.30 and has a team-high four goals and five assists. He has a total of 13 points in 10 games.

Ricardo John is T-37th in the nation in shots on goal per game at 1.64 and leads the team with 33 shots. The Hokies currently are ranked 45 in the NCAA RPI Rankings. The ACC has 11 of 12 teams in the top 50 with the only exception being Pittsburgh at No. 75.

Opponent History...

The Hokies will be meeting High Point for just the fourth time in history on Tuesday night. The teams last met in 2013 in Blacksburg where the Hokies won, 5-2. Current Hokies Andre Thomas and Daniel Lauretano each scored a goal in the game that featured three players still on the Tech roster. The Hokies’ edge in the series is by a 2-1 record. Tech has only played at High Point once, a 2-1 loss in 2008.

About High Point...

The Panthers are coming off a 2-1 win on the road at Longwood and have only lost one game in their last six contests. High Point and the Hokies have had two mutual regualr season opponents in VMI and UNC Greensboro.

Ryan Avery has scored a team-best four goals to go along with an assist for a team-high nine points.Four players have scored two goals for the Panthers and 11 players have recorded at least one assist. Kody Palmer has played every minute in goal for High Point making 51 saves for a .850 save percentage. He’s only allowed nine goals on the season with a 0.69 goals against average.

Palmer has led his team to be eighth nationally in save percentage at .852 and T-18th in shutout percentage at .50. Defensively, the only give up 0.69 goals per game which is good for 18th in the country. Offensively, the Panthers put a lot of shots on goal per game as they rank fifth nationally at 7.58 a contest and T-7th in total shots at 17.67.

For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_MSoccer