HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point is back on the road for back-to-back games against Duke University on Tuesday and in-conference competitor Longwood University on Wednesday. Duke is coming off of a tough loss to No. 14 Virginia and Longwood is coming off a 18-5 loss to Mercer. The Panthers tallied a dominant win over the Radford Highlanders this past Saturday, 15-5.  

GAME INFORMATION
High Point vs. (RV) Duke University | Tuesday, April 11th | 4:00 P.M. | Koskinen Stadium
LIVE STATS | WATCH 

High Point vs. Longwood | Wednesday, April 12th  | 6:00 P.M.  | EBJ Field
LIVE STATS | WATCH 

Last Time Out
An absolute dominant team effort by High Point women's lacrosse Saturday gave them their second conference win against the Radford Highlanders. Six different Panthers scored in the 15-5 win — three different players recorded hat tricks. The Panthers were a force to be reckoned with on both ends. Jenna Kraft ended the evening with four caused turnovers and two ground balls. Baehr had another great game with five draw controls, four ground balls, and two caused turnovers. Suplee and Coachman combined for 11 saves. Offensively, Brockamp and Rosselli recorded their first hat tricks of the season and Miles tallied her second of the year. Loescher put in two goals and dished out four assists to tally her eleventh straight multi-point contest. Cavallaro had her third multi-point game with two goals and an assist. The win marked the Panther's second conference win and third win of the season. High Point is now 8-0 all-time against Radford. 
 

It's a bird, it's a plane, NOPE IT IS ANOTHER PANTHER HAT TRICK. #GoHPU pic.twitter.com/Amr1owZJjz

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) April 8, 2023

About the Blue Devils 
Duke is 6-7 on the year with big wins against Navy and Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils fell just short Saturday, 16-12, against the Virginia Cavaliers. A team of notably high caliber—four Blue Devil players were selected to Inside Lacrosse's Preseason All America team. Duke's all-time draw control record holder Maddie Jenner was named to the first team, Cubby Biscardi and Olivia Carner were placed on the third team and Katie DeSimone made the Honorable Mention. DeSimone leads the team with 56 points already this season off of 41 goals and 15 assists. Senior attacker Caroline Debellis is second in points with 29. On the defensive end, Biscardi has accumulated 24 caused turnovers, 20 draw controls and 12 ground balls. The Blue Devils shift between three different keepers in goal: Madison Drebing, Shaye Fitzpatrick, and Sophia LeRose. Fitzpatrick has made the most starts this season with eight. Kerstin Kimel is the only head coach in Duke women's lacrosse history. In Kimel's 25 seasons at the helm of Duke women's lacrosse, she has guided the Blue Devils to seven national semifinals, four ACC regular season titles, an ACC Tournament Championship and 19 NCAA Tournament appearances. She has also been named ACC Coach of the year five times. 

Match-up History vs. Duke
The Panthers have faced the Blue Devils in five contests with four losses and a win. Most notably, the Panthers defeated the 19th nationally-ranked team in 2018, 16-12. High Point fell in the 2022 season 22-13. Esprit Cha and Kay Rosselli contributed three goals in the loss, Mandy Brockamp had two, and Emma Genovese tallied one. This will be just the third time ever that the two teams face off in Durham. 

About the Lancers
The Lancers are 3-8 so far this season and 1-3 in Big South play. They have secured wins against Kennesaw State University, George Mason, and Gardner-Webb. This past Saturday, Longwood fell to conference competitor Mercer. Junior midfielder Riley McDonald leads the team with 36 points off of 24 goals and 12 assists. Junior attacker Emily Cate Smith is just behind McDonald with 32 points. On the defensive end, Julia Koenig has caused 21 turnovers, secured 14 draw controls, and picked up 15 ground balls. Sophomore goalkeeper Amelia Carlile has 80 saves on the season and holds a .404 save percentage. Kylar Ferguson is in her first season as head coach for the Lancers. Prior to Longwood, Ferguson served as head coach for Life University. In 2022, Ferguson led the program to their best finish in school history with 15 wins. 

Match-up History vs. Longwood
High Point is 13-0 all-time against the Lancers. The Panthers took the most recent matchup 19-7. Cavallaro and Rosselli added three goals each in the win, while Brockamp had two. Suplee and Coachman combined for five saves. This will be the fifth time the Panthers travel to Farmville to face Longwood. 

Panther Notes

Cavallaro Turning Up the Heat
Junior attacker Pia Cavallaro was a force in the Panther's win against Radford Saturday. Now ranked fourth in points on the team with 16, Cavallaro contributed two goals and dished out an assist against Radford, marking her seventh game of the year putting up points. An under-the-radar threat, Cavallaro is a force to be reckoned with. 
 

MAMMA MIA THAT'S A GOAL BY PIA! #GoHPU pic.twitter.com/GvgVKMtdpu

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) April 8, 2023

Scudillo Close Behind Baehr in National Ranks 
Ava Scudillo has been a huge contributor all season for High Point's defense. The senior defender averages 1.7 caused turnovers per game and has accumulated 18 total on the season. Scudillo now ranks in the top-50 nationally (46th) in caused turnovers per game. 

Defensive Domination 
The Panther's defense was on fire Saturday to secure the win. Graduate defender Jenna Kraft contributed four caused turnovers to take her CT-count to eleven on the season. Caitlyn Baehr had another phenomenal performance with five draw controls, two caused turnovers, and four ground balls. Suplee and Coachman combined for eleve saves. 

Brockamp, Rosselli, and Miles Add Hat Tricks 
With efforts by Rosselli, Brockamp, and Miles, the Panthers tallied their third win of the season and second conference win on Saturday against the Radford Highlanders. Brockamp and Rosselli added their first hat-tricks of the 2023 season. Miles secured her second three-goal game to mark her sixth multi-point game of the year. Rosselli now has 18 points on the season, Brockamp has 11, and Miles is second in points on the team with 19.  
 

THIRTY-ONE CAN YOU DO SOMETHIN FOR MEEE?? ??????#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/kKHe45Q3AT

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) April 8, 2023

Sophomore Stand-Outs 
Sophomore midfielder Espirit Cha and sophomore defender Caitlyn Baehr both made a huge impact in Wednesday night's game. Cha tallied her first points of the season with three goals and an assist. Baehr recorded a season-high nine draw controls for the Panthers, along with two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Baehr now has 18 caused turnovers and 16 draw controls on the season. 

Baehr Breaks Top-50 in Caused Turnovers Nationally
Sophomore defender Caitlyn Baehr accumulated seven caused turnovers in High Pont's two games against Winthrop and Mercer. Baehr added four ground balls, two caused turnovers, and five draw controls in the Panther's win against Radford. She now has 20 total caused turnovers on the season and has been recognized nationally for her efforts. Baehr ranks 34th in the country in caused turnovers per game, averaging 1.8. 

More Milestones for Mena
Graduate attacker Mena Loescher solidified her 200th career point in the Panther's game against Mercer Saturday. After crushing her 100-goal milestone, Mena has now tallied 202 points in the Purple and White, is second in the conference in points per game and assists per game and is ranked 19th nationally in points per game. Loescher has also passed High Point alumni Erica Perotta, Brooke Stevens, and Grace Gaeng in total assists with 88. 

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. 

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.