WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 17 | 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: Vert Stadium | High Point, N.C.
RECORDS: High Point (0-2), No. 2 Maryland (2-0)
SERIES RECORD: Maryland leads 2-0
LAST MEETING: Maryland won 19-5 in College Park, Md. on Feb. 18, 2017
VIDEO: Big South Network
LIVE STATS: HighPointPanthers.Com
GAME NOTES: HighPointPanthers.Com
 
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team open their 2018 home slate on Saturday at noon when it hosts Maryland, the defending national champions, in Vert Stadium.
 
The Panthers enter the contest at 0-2 after dropping road contests at No. 1 Duke and Georgetown during the first week of action. Meanwhile, the Terrapins are 2-0 with home triumphs over Navy and Marist.
 
Quick Hitters
• Freshman Asher Nolting has paced the offense in both of the first two games of his HPU career. The attackman posted a goal and two assists at Duke before following that up with two goals and an assist at Georgetown.
 
• Senior Connor Robinson tallied two goals against Georgetown to reach 51 points for his career. He is the fifth Panther to reach that mark and is two points from passing Sean Harrison for fourth in the program's history.
 
• High Point has shown improvement at the face-off 'X' early this spring winning 47 percent of its draws. That's compared to the squad's 34-percent mark last year.
 
• Sophomore Davis Sampere ranks 25th in the nation with a .531 winning percentage at the midfield dot. His 4.00 ground balls per contest put him at 43rd nationally.
 
• HPU's 13-of-24 performance on face-offs on Tuesday was the first time the team won the face-off battle since April 30, 2016 against VMI. The Panthers are 23-15 all-time when winning more face-offs than their opponent.
 
• HPU lost the ground ball battle by an average on 9.0 per game last year while scooping up more than its opponent just once. This season the Panthers tied Georgetown on the ground and lost the ground ball count at Duke by just five.
 
• High Point is 21-15 all-time playing in Vert Stadium. That includes a 13-10 record against non-conference foes. Maryland's visit on Saturday is the first time a member of the Big Ten has visited HPU in men's lacrosse. Michigan played at High Point in 2013, but was a member of the Eastern College Athletic Association at the time.
 
• High Point is 3-13 all-time against ranked teams defeating Towson in 2013, Richmond in 2015 and Virginia in 2016. The No. 10 Cavaliers were the highest-ranked foe the Panthers have ever defeated.
 
• This is the second time in HPU history the program is hosting the defending national champions (Duke - 2015).
 
Winning in the Classroom
• The 2018 Panthers posted a 3.31 GPA during the 2017-18 fall semester, which is the highest in program history.
 
• The fall also included 41 student-athletes earning HPU's Mills Scholar-Athlete honor going to student-athletes with at least a 3.0 GPA for the semester.
 
• Leading the way were Ben Baker, Cade Klawinski, Nick Walsh and Bobby Stewart who all notched 4.0 GPAs.
 
• HPU tied Mercer for the most players on the SoCon Academic Honor Roll last season (33).
 
Preseason SoCon Outlook
The Panthers were picked to finish fifth in the league by the Southern Conference's head coaches. The team finished last season tied for fifth missing the conference tournament for the first time in program history. The top four in the poll were the four teams that advanced to the SoCon Championship in Air Force, Richmond, Furman and Jacksonville.
 
Canadian Transfers
For the third straight season the Purple & White have added a transfer who hails from north of the border. Adam Dickson, a White Rock, British Columbia native, has transferred from Ohio Valley University where he was an all-conference performer at the Division II level.
 
All-Time Series with Maryland
The Panthers and the Terrapins have met each of the past two seasons in College Park with Maryland winning 15-10 in 2016 and 19-5 in 2017.
 
All-Time Mark Against the Big Ten
High Point is 1-2 against the current members of the Big Ten. The two losses came in the meetings with Maryland while the win came against Michigan in 2014 - before the formation of the Big Ten. HPU also scrimmaged Johns Hopkins in Vert Stadium on January 27, 2018.
 
Last Time They Met
The Panthers fell behind early as the Terrapins earned a 19-5 home victory last spring. Chris Young and Terrell Sands both tallied goals while Jason Ashwood recorded two assists. Defensively, Tim Troutner Jr. made 14 saves and caused two turnovers from his keeper spot.
 
Next Up
The Purple & White remain at home on Tuesday, Feb. 20 to host another national power when Virginia visits the Triad for the first time. The Panthers and the Cavaliers have met twice before splitting the two contests in Charlottesville, Va.
 
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