HIGH POINT, N.C. – 18 Panthers scored in High Point University's 27-9 triumph over Hampton.
Brayden Mayea led HPU with four goals while
Nick Rizzo added three winners. Mayea, Rizzo, and
Hunter Vines dished out two assists apiece while
Grant Ammann,
Quentin McComas, and
Brice Richins all tallied three caused turnovers.
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: High Point 27, Hampton 9
Records: High Point (4-1), Hampton (0-3)
"It was a great weekend," said head coach
Jon Torpey. "Any time you go 2-for-2 on Saturday and Sunday, that's what we were looking forward to trying to accomplish this weekend, and we did. It was great to see all the guys play. I've got a ton of respect for what Chazz (Woodsen) and JT (Giles-Harris) are doing (at Hampton). Their kids played incredibly hard, you saw it in the second half, they came out fighting."
After picking up a thrilling 14-13 win against Navy on Saturday afternoon, HPU had less than a day to recover for Sunday's game against Hampton. But the Panthers did not skip a beat, scoring six goals in the first seven minutes.
"The biggest thing is you have to recover, and then you have to learn the scout in less than a day," said Torpey. "Mentally you have to be ready to go, and I don't think I've ever been a part of something like that where you play Saturday and have to bounce back to play Sunday, but I thought the guys responded incredibly well."
Mayea scored his first goal within the first minute of action after
Jack VanOverbeke caused a Pirate turnover. A few minutes later, VanOverbeke found Vines on the left side of midfield for his first goal of the season. HPU would win the next two face-offs and maintain possession which led to back-to-back goals from
Michael Ippolito and forced a Hampton timeout.
HPU would not relent as Vines scored his second goal of the day from Mayea.
Jack Sawyer netted a goal one minute later to give HPU the sizeable 6-0 advantage with 7:36 remaining in the first quarter.
After Mayea forced a turnover and scooped up the ground ball, he scored his second goal of the day on an assist from Vines. He added another after
Collin Hoben won the next face-off and found Ippolito downfield, who passed across the field to Mayea in front of the crease. Mayea added his fourth goal of the opening period two minutes later, again from Vines, to make it a 10-0 game.
With an extra man opportunity, Mayea found
Nick Murphy with 42 seconds remaining in the period before
Nick Rizzo scored his first of the day with 15 seconds left in the period to give High Point the 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Torpey said the early success paved the way for more Panthers to see action off the bench. "The starters did an awesome job; those guys were great. We asked them yesterday when they left to do their jobs so they could get other guys opportunities to play. When they came out of the game, they had great energy on the bench, and when the younger guys went in, they did a fantastic job of not skipping a beat. Any time you can play your entire team during the game, it's a special day."
Isiah Moran-Weekes started off the scoring in the second quarter, picking up a ground ball in front of the crease to get his second winner of the season. Less than a minute later Rizzo added his second of the day on a find from VanOverbeke.
As HPU rotated more players in throughout the quarter, younger players were quick to capitalize on opportunities. Freshman
Matt Lutzel scored his first career goal on a pass from Rizzo to give HPU the 15-0 lead with 10:17 remaining in the half.
Hampton added two goals over the next three minutes, but HPU responded as
Max Armitage found
Davis Whiting on the left side for a look from distance to put the Panthers back up, 16-2. The Pirates added another goal, but Moran-Weekes and
Caison Dillon scored in the final two minutes as High Point carried an 18-3 lead into halftime.
Freshman
Dean Dimento scored after classmate
Luca Accardo won the first face-off of the half and moved the ball quickly down the field. The next HPU goal came from
Ben Dimento, taking a shot from deep before
Jake Blevins won the next face-off and took the ball down the field for another goal, giving HPU a 21-3 lead with 8:37 remaining in the third period.
Hampton added three goals, but
Ethan Slusher broke up the run with his first goal, coming from behind the cage to put HPU ahead, 22-6, with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Pirates added two more before
John Long scored as the trailed down the field for HPU's first long pole goal of the day.
The Pirates added their final goal with 8:20 to play while HPU went on to score the next three from freshmen
Alex Loveland,
Ryan Hynes, and Slusher again. With less than two minutes to play, defensive midfielder
Ryan Summy notched his first career goal to close out the game.
Up Next: High Point is set to partake in the Crown Classic in Charlotte on Saturday, March 4
th. The Panthers are set to face-off with former SoCon foe Jacksonville at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
"We're excited, we have a lot of guys from the state of North Carolina on the team," said Torpey. "So, I'm looking forward to getting down there and playing against another very well-coached team."
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
