Site: High Point, N.C. (Vert Stadium)
Score: High Point 16, Drexel 15
Records: HPU (1-2), Drexel (0-1)
Next HPU Event: Saturday, Feb. 22 -- vs Cornell (Calvert Hall, Baltimore, Md.), Noon

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- The High Point University men's lacrosse team was victorious in a comeback effort over Drexel 16-15 on Saturday afternoon (Feb 15.) at Vert Stadium. 
 
"I'm just proud of the guys for battling back from a two goal deficit late in the game", head coach Jon Torpey said. "That's an excellent team, that is very well coached, I have a lot of respect for Coach Voelker and his staff. They have a talented group on offense and defense. I love the way our guys dug in, had some answers deep and I am proud of their effort."

High Point got off to a hot start as the Panthers took a two-goal lead less than three minutes into the game. Hunter Vines scored the first goal of the game, and forty seconds later Tyler Hendrycks added another for HPU. Hendrycks' goal came man up and was assisted by Tyler Stinson. Drexel scored to try to stop the Panther run, but Ben Baker answered with a goal to make it 3-1. Asher Nolting scored from X in an impressive sequence, where he used his body and spun of his defender to create space and then finish. Nolting put HPU up 4-2 then thirty-one seconds later added an assist to Dalton Sulver's goal which gave High Point a 5-2 lead. High Point's offense exploded for a total of six goals in the first quarter. Freshman Nick Murphy scored the sixth goal as he was assisted by Sulver.

Nolting's goal in the first quarter extended his goal streak to 19 games. He finished with two on Saturday, he has scored 49 goals during this stretch. He has recorded at least one point in every game he has played in and extended his point streak to 33 games.

Drexel had a big second quarter scoring five goals. Vines scored the lone High Point goal in the quarter, he was assisted by Nolting. The great second quarter allowed the Dragons to take an 8-7 lead into halftime.

After a quick Drexel goal to start the third quarter, HPU answered as Stinson assisted Hendrycks again to cut the Dragon lead to one. Hendrycks scored two goals on the day. Two Dragon goals would push the lead back out to two. High Point went on a 4-1 run to end the third quarter.  Ricky Koelher, Koby Russell, and Michell Snyder all scored their first goals of the day in this stretch. Baker picked up his second of the day to tie the game at 11. Drexel scored to go up one, Snyder scored his first goal of the season to tie the game at 12.

The fourth quarter started tied at 12, Drexel scored two goals in the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter. The Panthers found themselves down 14-12 with less than seven minutes to play. With 6:26 remaining Vines scored his third goal of the contest to make it a one goal game. With 4:58 left, Nolting scored in a diving effort to tie the game at 14. Less than a minute later Devon Buckshot scored to put the Panthers up by one (15-14), this was the Panthers first lead since 7-6. This was Buckshot's first goal of the season and his collegiate career. Jake Schleppy scored with 2:45 left to put High Point up by two. Drexel would score one more goal to make it 16-15, Schleppy's goal was the difference. The Panthers picked up their first win of the season 16-15 over Drexel.

"We talked about a 60-minute game this week, we did not do that in our scrimmage against Carolina, we did not do that against Maryland, and we certainly did not do that against Duke last week. We preached really for the last three days about the fourth quarter and making sure that we were making good adjustments. About making sure we were getting the right guys on the field and doing what we needed to do from an execution stand point. In the second quarter you started to see those guys win the 50/50 ground balls and they did better at the faceoff X, but I love the way our guys dug in. That was a great effort against a fantastic team. " Coach Torpey said.

Freshman Parker Green secured his first win of the season and of his collegiate career with a 15 save performance. It was Green's third straight game with double digit saves.

Up Next: High Point travels to Coach Torpey's high school alma mater Calvert Hall in Baltimore for a neutral site game against Cornell on Sunday (Feb. 22).