BOX SCORE

The High Point University women's lacrosse team won its second straight game, defeating Mount St. Mary's 12-5 on Saturday afternoon at Vert Stadium. Attacker Chelsea Thompson led the Panthers with four goals and Sara Kuhlman added three scores.

"We were really excited to be back on our home field and get a win today after being on the road for a couple games," said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. "The girls played really well. It was a little bit slow to start the game but we made some adjustments at halftime and the last couple minutes of the game were probably the best part. We had some good leadership with Chelsea and Grace on the attacking end. The defense, as always, did their jobs."

With the win HPU improved to 3-2 overall and Mount St. Mary's dropped to 0-4 for the year.

Goalie Lauren Hayes had 10 saves in net for High Point. Attacker Grace Gaeng had two goals, two assists, four ground balls and three draw controls. Freshman Alec Perry scored two second half goals for HPU.

Mount St. Mary had five different players each score a goal. Esther Rufolo added an assist and seven draw controls to her goal scored. Goalie Bridgid McTavish had seven saves for the Mountaineers.

HPU gained control of the game early with Heather Ziccarelli scoring on a free position attempt with 27:40 remaining in the first half. Kuhlman scored the first of her three goals 45 seconds later to put High Point ahead 2-0. Midway through the first half Thompson scored two back-to-back goals to make it 4-0 HPU. Mount St. Mary's cut the lead to 4-2, but Gaeng and Kuhlman scored goals in the half's final two minutes to give the Panthers a 6-2 lead at intermission.

Thompson scored with 26:01 remaining to push High Point's lead to 7-2. It was Thompson's team-leading 12th goal of the season. The Mountaineers cut into the lead, getting as close as three (8-5) on a Lindsay Diaz free-position goal with 12:09 remaining, but Gaeng responded with a goal on an assist from Thompson. High Point netted three goals in the final 1:20 to push the final margin to 12-5.

High Point returns to action for a home contest against Wagner on Thursday. Game time is 6 p.m. at Vert Stadium and admission is free.