HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's lacrosse team heads south to face the Preseason Big South favorite Mercer Saturday. The Panthers are coming off of a big double-OT thriller Wednesday, defeating the Winthrop Eagles, 13-12. 

GAME INFORMATION
High Point vs. Mercer University | Saturday, April 1 | 2:00 P.M. | Five Star Stadium
LIVE STATS | WATCH | GAME NOTES 

Last Time Out
Freshman Shannon Smith was the star of the show Wednesday, netting her first-career golden goal in the second overtime period to top the Eagles. In all, Smith tallied two goals, one caused turnover, and a ground ball in the win. Mena Loescher tallied her eighth straight multi-point game with three goals and three assists. Pia Cavallaro netted her first hat-trick of the year, along with two assists. Emma Nowakowski put in two goals and Jordan Miles, Kay Rosselli, and Reese Dowgiallo scored one goal each. Dowgiallo's goal was her first in the Purple and White. Caitlyn Baehr, Jenna Kraft, and Taylor Suplee were complete defensive threats on the other end. Kraft had three caused turnovers and picked up a ground ball. Baehr picked up three ground balls, caused four turnovers, and secured three draw controls. Suplee had 10 saves, including two huge overtime free-position stops. The Redshirt senior also tallied six ground balls. 
 

SHANNON SMITH WINS IT IN DOUBLE OT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

?? ?? 1??1??#GoHPU x #HPUWLAX pic.twitter.com/hSKG6L9mT0

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) March 29, 2023

About the Bears
Mercer is 7-2 so far this season, with its first conference win against Big South competitor Gardner-Webb this past Wednesday. The Bears have tallied big wins against American, George Washington, and Virginia Tech. Senior attacker Shannon Urey leads the team with 36 goals and two assists. Urey leads the Big South Conference in goals per game (4)  and is second in points per game (4.22). Junior Maddi Koury is second in points on the team with 30. Koury is sixth in the conference in assists per game (1.67)  and seventh in points per game (3.33). Senior goalkeeper Kate Vanderlinde leads the conference with a goals-against average of 10.24 per game. Vanderlinde is also fourth in the conference in terms of saves percentage (.441) and has made 56 saves already this season. Samantha Eustace is in her seventh season as head coach of the Bears and she is the only coach to lead the team to three NCAA appearances. Mercer is coming off a big season in 2022, winning the Big South Conference in their inaugural season in the conference. 

Match-up History 
The Panthers and Bears have faced off in four contests going into Saturday's game. This will be the first time HPU faces Mercer on their turf. High Point has defeated Mercer three times and has only fallen once, in the 2022 Big South Championship at home. Mercer came out victorious last May, 16-13. Loescher had four goals in the loss, Rosselli had two, and Genovese and Brockamp each contributed one goal. Suplee made nine saves. 

Panther Notes

Players To Watch
Graduate attacker Mena Loescher is also on the prowl for 200 career points. After crushing her 100-goal milestone, Mena has now tallied 199 points in the purple and white, leads the conference in points per game and assists per game and is ranked 19th nationally in points per game. Sophomore attacker Jordan Miles is off to a hot start, contributing points in six out of the seven games so far this season. Miles made her 2023 debut with two goals against Davidson and then netted three goals against nationally-ranked JMU. Miles posted two goals against nationally-ranked UNC, including a beautiful behind-the-back goal to start the Panther scoring Thursday. The sophomore attacker is now third in points on the team with 14. Sophomore defender Caitlyn Baehr is also off to a great start to the season, picking up at least one ground ball in all eight games. Baehr picked up four ground balls and caused three turnovers to help lead the Panthers to their first win of the season against Mount St. Mary's on February 18th and picked up three ground balls with two caused turnovers against No. 12 James Madison. 

Freshman Finalizer 
Freshman Shannon Smith scored the first golden goal of her career Wednesday to defeat the Winthrop Eagles in double-OT. Smith had two goals in the win and marked her third game contributing points. Along with her two goals, the attacker had one ground ball, one assist, and a caused turnover. 

Cavallaro's First Hat Trick 
Cavallaro was the opening goal-scorer Wednesday and ended the night with efforts in five of the thirteen goals. The junior attacker had two early goals to keep the momentum up and scored again in the third quarter to put the Panthers up five. She also assisted on the fourth and eleventh goals. Along with her goals and assists, Cavallaro picked up four ground balls and caused two turnovers. Wednesday's game marked the fifth game that the junior tallied at least one point. 
 

Take it to the cage!!

1??7?? with our first goal ???#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/zPflsmshh8

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) March 29, 2023

Suplee Hits Career-Mark 200 Saves 
Redshirt senior Taylor Suplee hit a big milestone in the Panther's game against Elon Wednesday, March 15th. After tying her season-high ten saves, she surpassed 200 career-saves in under two years at High Point. She is now just 15 saves away from moving up to fourth best all-time in total saves in the history of the program. 

Smith and Kucia Make First Start of the Year
Freshman attacker Shannon Smith and senior defender Kristen Kucia made their first starts of the year against Elon. Kucia was a huge threat on the defensive end with a career-high two caused turnovers for the Panthers. Smith picked up one ground ball and secured a draw-control as well. As a freshman, Smith has seen action in all six games.

Scudillo With Stellar Defensive Effort 
In the Panthers' trip out west, senior defender Ava Scudillo accumulated six caused turnovers and picked up three ground balls in the two games. In HPU's matchup against USC, Scudillo tallied a season-high three caused turnovers and continued the performance tallying three more caused turnovers against SDSU. The senior defender now has eight caused turnovers on the season and has picked up seven ground balls. 

Milestone Mena
With seven minutes left in the second quarter against JMU, Mena Loescher netted a goal that not only knotted the score at four, but also marked her 100th career goal at High Point. Loescher's teammates celebrated as she flipped in a shot back-handed to reach her milestone in the most fashionable way. Loescher leads the conference in points per game and is ranked in the top-40 nationally for assists. 

Miles Secures First Career Hat-Trick 
Jordan Miles had a career day for herself, netting a career-high three goals. Miles scored back-to-back goals in the first half to respond to three JMU goals and keep the pressure on offensively. She netted her third goal with ten minutes left in the third quarter to keep High Point within range of the Dukes. Miles has now started and played in all three games for the Panthers as a sophomore. 

Career Day for Genovese
Emma Genovese was on fire Saturday with four goals, five draw controls, two ground balls and one caused turnover. Her four goals set a career-high for the Graduate midfielder and helped lead the Panthers to their first win of the season. Genovese's previously held career-high was three goals in the 2022 season against Elon and Wofford. 

Shannon Smith Makes Her Scoring Debut 
Freshman attack Shannon Smith scored her first career goal for the Purple and White on Saturday against Mount St. Mary's, off a cross-cage assist from Emma Nowakowski. Smith also picked up two ground balls and has been one of the only freshmen to appear in both games for the Panthers.

Loescher Ranked Nationally and In-Conference for Beginning 2023 Performance 
Mena Loescher tallied nine points off of five goals and four assists in her season-opening game against Davidson. In the Panthers second game against Mount St. Mary's Saturday, Loescher opened the contest with two back-to-back goals, picked up two ground balls, two draw-controls and dished out an assist. She has not only made a significant impact in both games for High Point, but she is having her name heard across the conference and nationally. After two games, Loescher is tied for 24th in the nation in assists per game. The Preseason Offensive Player of the Year is also second in points per game, third in goals per game, and fourth in assists per game in the Big South Conference. 

Loescher Starts the Season Off With a Bang
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Mena Loescher lived up to her title with quite the performance in her season-opener Saturday, February 11th. The Graduate attack posted a whopping nine points off of five goals and four assists against the Wildcats of Davidson. Loescher had a hat-trick in just the first quarter and scored all five of her goals unassisted. 

Miles Starts Off Strong
Sophomore attack Jordan Miles opened up her year with the first goal of the 2023 season for the Panthers. Miles scored within the first five minutes off an assist from Loescher. She scored her second goal of the contest unassisted in the second quarter to knot the game at seven. 

Rosselli Adds Three Points for the Panthers
Junior midfielder Kay Rosselli ended her 2023 debut second in points on the day, with two goals and an assist. Rosselli scored her first of the game off an assist from Loescher, just seconds after Miles' first goal of the season. She scored her second goal, unassisted, to tie the score at eight just before the halftime break. 

Although the single-season points record-holder Abby Hormes will be talked about as a huge loss for the Panthers this year, they return a strong core group both offensively and on the defensive end. Graduate Attack Mena Loescher tallied an astounding 46 goals and 30 assists, while Junior Midfielder Kay Rosselli added 31 goals with her 20 assists. Loescher made a huge impact against #1 ranked UNC tallying a goal and three assists. Rosselli netted three goals and had an assist against the 6th team in the nation, Duke, early in the 2022 season. 

The Panthers also return 1st-Team All Big-South Midfielder Emma Genovese and 1st-Team All Big-South Goalkeeper Taylor Suplee. Genovese was a dominant force for HPU in the 2022 season contributing 13 goals, 14 assists, and 47 draw controls. Suplee held it down on the other end with 158 saves. Suplee had a season-high 16 saves in the Panther's 17-12 win over Mercer on April 23rd. Genovese had three goals in High Point's first win of the 2022 season against Elon. 

Loescher, Genovese, and Suplee Earn Preseason Accolades
Graduate attack Mena Loescher, Graduate Midfield Emma Genovese, and Redshirt-Senior Goalkeeper Taylor Suplee were named to the Preseason All- Conference team. This is the first Preseason All-Conference accolade for all three players. Coming off a 46-goal and 36-assist season in 2022, Loescher was named the Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. 

Panthers Tabbed Second in Preseason Poll
High Point was voted second in the conference in the 2023 Big South Conference Preseason Women's Lacrosse Poll. The Panthers first-place votes fell just short of the Mercer Bears, who were crowned the Big South Conference Tournament Champions last spring.