HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point plays another home conference matchup Saturday, welcoming the Highlanders of Radford University. The Panthers are 1-2 so far in Big South play with a close loss to Furman Wednesday. The Highlanders have yet to win a game in the conference. 

GAME INFORMATION
High Point vs. Radford University | Saturday, April 8 | 3:00 P.M. | Vert Stadium
LIVE STATS | WATCH | GAME NOTES 

Last Time Out
HPU lost a heartbreaker Wednesday against the Furman Paladins, 16-15. Despite a valiant effort to come back down seven goals, the Panthers fell just short as time ran out in the fourth quarter. Mena Loescher tallied her eighth straight multi-point game with four goals and an assist. Sophomore Espirit Cha recorded her first goal(s) of the year, netting a hat trick, while Pia Cavallaro netted her second hat trick in a week. Sophomore defender Caitlyn Baehr secured a season-high nine draw controls to go along with two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Mandy Brockamp, Kay Rosselli, and Shannon Smith also contributed points. 
 

3?? players with 3?? goals or more ?? Furman

??Pia posted her second hat trick within a week
??Mena scored her eighth multi-score game with 4?? goals
??Esprit scored her first goal of the season with 3?? total #GoHPU pic.twitter.com/BxEVAqtx73

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) April 6, 2023

About the Highlanders
Radford holds a 3-8 record so far this season with wins against Kennesaw State, Delaware State, and Akron. The Highlanders are coming off of a 15-11 loss against Gardner-Webb this past Wednesday. Junior attacker Ashlyn Grogan is first in points on the team with 36. She had a season-high nine points in their win against Akron and eight points in the Highlander's win against Kennesaw State. Senior midfielder Margaret Gleason sits just behind Grogan with 33 points off of 27 goals and six assists. Goalkeeper Olivia Hunter ranks first in the conference in saves per game, tallying 127 saves already this season with a .454 save percentage. Samantha Hurley was named head coach of the Highlanders in July of 2021. She is only the second head coach ever at Radford for women;s lacrosse. In 2022, she helped lead Margaret Gleason to Second-team All-Conference. 

Match-up History 
Historically, the Panthers hold a winning streak of seven, as they have never dropped a contest to the Highlanders. High Point traveled to Radford last April and came home with a 21-7 win. Loescher contributed five goals and an assist in the win, while Cavallaro netted two. Caitlyn Baehr added four draw controls and two caused turnovers. 

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Panther Notes

Players To Watch
Sophomore attacker Jordan Miles is off to a hot start, contributing points in nine out of the ten 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 second in points on the team with 16. 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. Baehr also had three caused turnovers and picked up four ground balls against Mercer. Senior defender Ava Scudillo had a season-high four caused turnovers against Mercer and two caused turnovers in High Point's win against Winthrop. 

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 team-high 18 caused turnovers and 16 draw controls on the season. 
 

2??6?? SCORES AGAIN!! ??#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/oemubgvgdL

— HPU Women's Lacrosse (@hpuwlax) April 5, 2023

Baehr Breaks Top-35 in Caused Turnovers Nationally
Sophomore defender Caitlyn Baehr accumulated nine caused turnovers in High Pont's two games against Winthrop and Mercer this past week. She now has 18 total caused turnovers on the season and has been recognized nationally for her efforts. Baehr ranks 35th in the country in caused turnovers per game, averaging 1.78. 

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 207 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. 

Cavallaro's First Hat Trick 
Cavallaro was the opening goal-scorer Wednesday verus Winthop and ended the night with efforts in five of the 13 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 11 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. 

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.