WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 8 | 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Koskinen Stadium | High Point, N.C.
RECORDS: High Point (0-0), No. 2/No. 1 Duke (1-0)
SERIES RECORD: Duke leads 4-0
LAST MEETING: Duke won 10-5 in Durham, N.C. on Feb. 10, 2017
VIDEO: ACC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoDuke.Com
GAME NOTES: HighPointPanthers.Com
 
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team begins its 2018 campaign on Thursday night in Durham, N.C. against Duke with a 7:00 p.m. opening face-off.
 
The Panthers are coming off a 4-10 season in 2017 while the (No. 2/No. 1) Blue Devils are 1-0 this spring following an 18-4 victory over Air Force on Saturday.
 
Quick Hitters
• The senior duo of Connor Robinson and Jason Ashwood enter their final collegiate season ranked in the top-10 in HPU's career points rankings. Robinson is fifth with 48 (39g, 9a) while Ashwood sits in eighth with 29 (16g, 13a).
 
• Senior defender Terrell Sands was the Panthers' lone representative on the Preseason All-Southern Conference Team. The Sebastian, Fla. native enters his final season in the Purple & White ranking seventh in HPU's history in caused turnovers (28).
  
• The Panthers caused some havoc defensively last spring placing 18th in the nation in caused turnovers per game (7.64/game). Four of the team's top-five in the category return in Tim Troutner Jr., Sands, Griff Caligiuri and Luke Cappetto.
 
• HPU brings back four of their seven double-digit goal scorers in Robinson (16), Ashwood (12), Chris Young (16) and Mitchel Snyder (10).
 
• Robinson and Justin Guterding are the active career leading scorers for their respective teams. The two scored their first career points against each other three years and a day prior to the 2018 opener. Guterding tallied six goals in his first career game while Robinson notched one in a 16-13 Duke win in 2015.
 
• Every season opener in High Point history has come against a team whose nickname started with "Blue." The Panthers went 1-2 playing Delaware in their openers in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2016 and 2017, HPU started their campaigns with setbacks to Duke. Overall, the program is 1-4 in season openers.
 
• High Point is 3-12 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.
 
• The Blue Devils enter the contest ranked No. 2 in the USILA Coaches Poll and No. 1 in the Inside Lacrosse poll making Duke the highest-ranked foe HPU has ever played. The Panthers have played a team ranked third three times playing Duke in '14 and '15 and Maryland last season.
 
• High Point is 11-24 all-time in road games with a 0-3 record when playing Duke in Koskinen Stadium.
 
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.
 
Minding the Net, Plus a Little More
• Tim Troutner Jr. enters his third collegiate season with a 26-game start streak in the crease for the Panthers' defense. The Annapolis, Md. native is 12-14 as the starter including leading HPU to a win over No. 10 Virginia in his second career start.
 
• Troutner has already racked up 322 saves and has stopped 54.1 percent of the shots he's faced in college.
 
• On top of his goalkeeper, the athletic junior ranks fourth in HPU's history with 34 career caused turnovers. Similarly, only eight Panthers have collected more than his 80 career ground balls.
 
• Troutner's 12.38 saves per game is the highest average among active players nationally with a minimum of 250 career saves.
 
• Along with Troutner, High Point has something most teams don't - an experienced backup. Senior Zach Tuell has started six games and boasts a .556 career save percentage.
 
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. Dickson comes after Dallas Bridle (Denver) in 2016 and Chris Young (Penn State) last year.
 
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).
 
All-Time Series with Duke
The Blue Devils have won the previous four meetings between the two programs with three in Durham and one in High Point.
 
All-Time Mark Against the ACC
High Point has amassed a 1-8 mark against current members of the Atlantic Coastal Conference. The team is 1-1 against Virginia, 0-4 versus Duke and 0-3 when playing North Carolina.
 
Last Time They Met
Ashwood opened the scoring and the Panthers trailed by just one entering halftime in last year's season opener. However, Duke outscored the Panthers 5-1 after the break to pull away for a 10-5 win. Troutner Jr. recorded 11 saves while Young and Robinson joined Ashwood in the scoring column.
 
Next Up
The Purple & White stay on the road heading to the nation's capital to play Georgetown on Tuesday, Feb. 13. HPU beat the Hoyas 9-3 last season.
 
#GoHPU