RICHMOND, Va. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team fell to Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Championship game on Saturday afternoon.
Grant Ammann,
Brayden Mayea, and
Jack VanOverbeke were named to the All-Championship team following Saturday's contest.
Site: Robins Stadium
Score: High Point 8, Richmond 15
Records: High Point (9-8, 2-3 A10), Richmond (11-4, 4-1 A10)
Head coach
Jon Torpey: "So incredibly proud of our team and the resilience they showed all year. We are going to miss our seniors immensely. They are such amazing people and their impact on and off the field is going to be lasting. Our program is so blessed to have them and their parents. It's going to be tough to say goodbye to this group, but I know we will be back next year and stronger than ever thanks to their guidance and mentorship."
The inaugural A10 Championship started as a defensive battle, as neither team was able to score for over five minutes.
Parker Green made a save on the first Spider shot attempt before
Jakob Joy caused a turnover on the next Richmond possession.
Green made another save before the Panthers cleared the ball down the field and VanOverbeke found Mayea for the first goal of the game.
Richmond countered back with two goals of its own, taking the 2-1 lead with 5:23 left in the quarter. VanOverbeke tallied two of his team-high four assists in the first period as he found
Jack Sawyer for his first goal of the day to tie the game with 3:33 left in the frame.
With time winding down, Richmond began a 3-0 run that spanned well into the second quarter. The Spiders held the 5-2 with 6:05 remaining in the half. High Point countered as
Michael Ippolito scored his first goal of the weekend, unassisted, with four minutes left.
The Spiders scored one final goal in the half with 1:30 left on the clock, holding the 6-3 advantage heading into the halftime break. Richmond continued the run into the third quarter, scoring three goals less than one minute of clock time to take the commanding 9-3 lead with 11:22 left in the period. They added two more before HPU responded as
Ethan Slusher scored with his third winner of the season.
The Panthers and Spiders traded scores again, this time with the visitors able to sneak a goal in with 11 seconds remaining in the quarter. Mayea scored again through contact on the feed from VanOverbeke to get within 12-5 heading into the fourth period.
After Richmond scored on its first possession of the quarter, HPU rallied with back-to-back scores from Sawyer and
Isiah Moran-Weekes. Sawyer evaded several defenders running toward the goal and scored on the open look from distance. After a pushing penalty,
Jaxson Lamb found Moran-Weekes looming at the crease for the easy shot to bring the Panthers within 13-7.
But the Spiders were able to score on two of their next three possessions, holding the comfortable 15-7 lead with just under five minutes to play. Sawyer added one final goal on a dish from VanOverbeke on the next possession, but HPU would not score again as Richmond entered a stall.
The Panthers finish their season at 9-8 overall with an Atlantic 10 Tournament Runner-Up finish, despite entering as a No. 4-seed and facing top-seeded Saint Joseph's in the semifinal on Thursday.
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
