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HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team will put its winning streak on the line against Richmond on Saturday at noon in Vert Stadium.
 
The Panthers (6-5, 2-1) are riding a three-game winning streak, their longest of the year. Meanwhile, the Spiders (7-4, 3-0) are off to a dominant 3-0 start in Southern Conference play.
 
Last Time Out:
Despite being held scoreless for the first 17 minutes, the Panthers were able to earn a 9-6 win over Jacksonville on April 4 in Jacksonville, Fla. Junior Dan Lomas' four goals led the offensive attack while redshirt-senior Austin Geisler made 12 saves to hold the Dolphins' offense down.
 
The lead seesawed back and forth for the first 50 minutes of play until HPU pulled away for the win on the strength of a 4-0 run over the final 10 minutes.
 
Junior Matt Thistle came up huge late by scoring the final two goals of the afternoon to give HPU breathing room. Likewise, freshman T Moyer had a career day scoring a goal and tallying two assists. Freshman Connor Robinson and sophomore Sean Harrison, who had his first multi-point game, notched the team's other two goals.
 
Defensively, Geisler received plenty of help from his teammates. The HPU defense forced 13 of the Dolphins' 19 giveaways. Junior Zack Price was credited with four caused turnovers while redshirt-junior Brad James and juniors Tyler Cook and James Dunn caused two apiece.
 
Junior Jamie Piluso took over the conference lead in face-off percentage going 11-of-19 (.579) at the face-off 'X.' The previous SoCon leader, Sam Rosengarden, went just 3-of-9 (.333) against Piluso and fell out of the top spot.
 
The Opponent:
The Spiders are outscoring their opponents 45-11 during their 3-0 start in SoCon play. On April 4, Richmond bested Furman 8-2 as sophomore Brendan Hynes racked up nine ground balls and three caused turnovers.
 
In the goal, sophomore Benny Pugh is leading the conference in goals against average (7.75) and save percentage (.599). Buoyed by Hynes' 18 caused turnovers, the Spiders are pacing the league with 8.91 caused turnovers per game and are sixth nationally in scoring defense.
 
Similarly, Richmond boasts the league's highest scoring offense with 11.9 goals per game. Sophomores J.P. Forester and Mitch Goldberg and redshirt-senior Mickey Hofmeister pace the attack and are all among the SoCon's top-10 in points per game.
 
The Spiders are near the bottom of the league on face-offs (.421). Richmond has tried three different face-off specialists this season with freshman Garrett Smith taking the most attempts (143) with the lowest percentage (.378). However, sophomore Peter Moran is 30-of-49 (.612) on the year after going 10-of-13 against Furman.
 
Turnovers and special teams will be key on Saturday. Richmond and HPU are No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference in turnover margin and clearing percentage. Similarly, the Panthers lead the SoCon with a .435 man-up scoring percentage while the Spiders are the best at penalty killing (.762).
 
Panther Notes:
• The Panthers and Spiders met twice last season with HPU winning the regular season game 11-7 at Richmond before falling in the Atlantic Sun championship game 8-7. Dan Lomas compiled seven goals and an assist in the two games while Jamie Piluso went 30-of-40 (.750) on face-offs.
 
• Sophomore Michael LeClair and juniors Matt Thistle and Dan Lomas are among top-five scorers in the SoCon this season. LeClair is second with 3.45 ppg and Thistle is third (3.44 ppg) and Lomas is fifth at 3.10 per game.
 
• Redshirt-Senior Austin Geisler made 12 saves in the win at Jacksonville on April 4. The redshirt-senior is seventh in the nation with 12.89 saves per game. Meanwhile, his save percentage of .536 puts him at 22nd in the country.
 
• The Panthers have had 25 different players tally a point this season. In comparison, only 22 Panthers were credited with a point in 2014. High Point has had 12 different players score a goal during its three-game winning streak.
 
• Senior Pat Farrell and junior Zack Price have combined to cause 41 turnovers and are the only teammates to rank in the top-10 nationally in CTs per game. Price is seventh (1.91/g) while Farrell is 10th (1.82/g).
 
• Junior Jamie Piluso is 13th in the nation and leads the SoCon with a .592 face-off percentage. He was 11-of-19 against Jacksonville on April 4 against the league's No. 2 face-off specialist.
 
Next Up:
The Panthers will travel to VMI for a night game on Friday, April 17 at Drill Field #2 at 7 p.m.
 
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