BOX SCORE

The High Point University women's lacrosse team won its fourth consecutive game, defeating Robert Morris 18-7 on Saturday afternoon at Vert Stadium. Attacker Grace Gaeng tied a season-high with five goals. Mackenzie Carroll scored four goals and had four assists for the Panthers.

“We're excited to be at home and get those types of win,” said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. “We worked hard today, the girls worked well as a unit. Offensively, Grace Gaeng, Mackenzie Carroll and Chelsea Thompson did a good job leading the offense. Robert Morris was a physical team, very aggressive all over the field. We made some adjustments at halftime and I feel like we executed a little better in the second half than the first between the restraining lines and in the midfield. Overall it was a good performance for all of us.”

The win improves HPU to 5-2 overall while Robert Morris dropped to 1-3 on the season.

Gaeng and Carroll also added three ground balls each. Attacker Chelsea Thompson added three goals and two assists for HPU. Midfielder Heather Ziccarelli also had a hat trick for High Point. HPU defender Kelsey Kirby led the team with six ground balls and Jasmine Jordan had four ground balls and three draw controls. High Point had 37 grounds balls to only 23 for Robert Morris.

Goalie Lauren Hayes continued her recent strong play, recording eight saves in cage for the Panthers.

“Lauren has put in a lot of extra work in outside of practice and it's really paying off for her, she's playing very well,” said Boswell.

Attacker Cara Hernandez led the Colonials with four goals and an assist. Midfielder Ashley Trombetta added two goals, an assist, two ground balls and two draw controls.

Robert Morris took an early 1-0 lead on a Hernandez goal 29 seconds into play before High Point reeled off eight straight goals in the game's first 10 minutes. During the run, Gaeng and Carroll combined to score five goals and Thompson, Ziccarelli and freshman Alec Perry had one a piece.

Late in the first half, Robert Morris scored four of five goals to cut the Panthers' lead to four (9-5) on a Trombetta goal. After that, Zicarelli scored twice and Thompson added another just before half to give High Point a 12-5 lead going into the break.

High Point quickly pushed its lead to 14-5 with 22:25 left on goals by Gaeng and Sara Kuhlman. Thompson scored her third and final goal of the afternoon with 7:47 left and Gaeng scored the Panthers' last goal with 3:41 to make it 18-6. Robert Morris's Colleen O'Donnell scored the last goal of the game on a free-position shot with just over two minutes left.

With the five-goal performance, Gaeng now leads High Point with 18 goals and 29 points on the season. Thompson is close behind with 17 goals and eight assists while Carroll's totls are up to 10 goals and 12 assists.

HPU returns to action with a non-conference matchup against Binghamton on March 21 at 6 p.m. at Vert Stadium.