HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team held off Hobart to pick up its first Atlantic 10 conference victory on senior day.
Jaxson Lamb led HPU with four goals while
Brayden Mayea added a goal and two assists with five ground balls.
Grant Ammann forced three Hobart turnovers and picked up four ground balls as well.
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: High Point 14, Hobart 13
Records: High Point (7-5, 1-1 A10), Hobart (5-5, 1-1 A10)
"Unbelievably proud of our guys, it's been a wild week," said head coach
Jon Torpey. "A lot of credit goes to our staff for getting our guys ready for this game, and they did a phenomenal job as the game went on, making adjustments. It's just great to get that first conference win against a really good team, a team that's really well-coached, and a team that plays you incredibly hard."
While Hobart opened the game with two goals in the first five minutes, HPU got on the board after
Nick Murphy fired from deep on a find from
Brayden Mayea.
The Statesmen added another goal, but the Panthers closed out the quarter with two goals of their own to stay tied heading into the second period.
Jack Sawyer found
Jack VanOverbeke across the crease for an easy look to pull within 3-2 before junior
Nick Rizzo picked up a ground ball off a Panther shot and converted on the scoring opportunity.
Hobart opened the second quarter with another score, but VanOverbeke posted an early hat trick with back-to-back goals to give High Point its first lead, 5-4, with 11:01 left in the half. Mayea and Rizzo combined for pressure on a Hobart clear attempt that caused an errant Statesmen pass straight to VanOverbeke, who was waiting nearby the crease with a look at an open goal. High Point, the NCAA Division I leader in opponent clearing percentage (.748) held Hobart to 17-for-23 on clear attempts on the day.
"It was definitely disappointing to go down 3-1 early, but the guys battled back, and that's what we kept telling them," added Torpey. "(They) got to 5-4, they dug in, we didn't burn any early timeouts, and they did it on the run. We had this philosophy of focusing on the next thing the entire day and dominating whatever was in front of us."
Another Statesmen goal broke up Panther scoring, but HPU closed the half on a 3-1 run to hold a slight 8-6 advantage. Sawyer and
Jaxson Lamb both scored unassisted in the run before Lamb added another from Rizzo with 4:47 remaining.
The Panthers held the momentum in the second half, rattling off another 3-0 run. Seniors
Michael Ippolito and Murphy scored on back-to-back possessions to open the half before Lamb posted his third goal of the day.
Hobart went on to score two goals of its own, but Lamb's fourth score of the day broke up the Statesmen run. The goal marked the second time in as many weeks that Lamb had posted four goals, matching his career-high from April 1
st at Massachusetts.
The Statesmen came back in the fourth quarter to make it a close game with two minutes to play. Despite two Panther goals from Rizzo and Mayea that put HPU up, 14-10, Hobart responded with three-straight goals to trail 14-13 with 2:30 left on the clock.
With Hobart obtaining possession in the final minute, the Panther defense locked down and forced the Statesmen to take a late shot, regaining possession with 15 seconds remaining to hold on for the win.
Up Next: High Point travels to Richmond next Saturday, April 15
th, to continue Atlantic 10 play. First face-off is set for 5:00 p.m. in Richmond. Torpey said the team will stay the course to prepare for next weekend's contest.
"We just want to take whatever's in front of us and do it really well. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but utilize whatever's broken behind us to figure out what we need to do moving forward. It's really nothing more, nothing less."
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
