ELON, N.C. — In a matchup of Piedmont Triad rivals, the High Point University women's lacrosse team bested Elon University, 12-11, in a game that came down to the wire Wednesday night.
It made for the second straight year the rivalry ended in a one-goal result; however, this year, the Panthers left the field victorious to take the 5-4 lead in the all-time series and notch their third straight win.
SITE: Rudd Field
SCORE: High Point 12, Elon 11
RECORDS: High Point (4-2), Elon (4-4)
Head Coach Lyndsey Boswell: "I couldn't be more excited for the group tonight. Elon is a team that always fights and tonight we came out on top. It was a full team effort, and I'm loving the selflessness, the grit, and the passion our team is playing with.
"I can't say enough about our leadership. They are working so hard on and off the field to ensure we improve each time out. Tonight, I need to shout-out my amazing staff; they've stepped up big the past few weeks, and I appreciate each of them and love them so much. Go Panthers!"
Four different players scored for HPU as
Esprit Cha matched her career-high four goals — scoring a first-quarter hat trick — while
Allie Connally scored her first-career hat trick and
Jordan Miles notched her fifth game with three or more goals.
Reese Dowgiallo also netted her third career game with a pair of goals and added an assist.
Miles solidified her hat trick in the nick of time. After the Panthers carried a 9-2 lead into half time, the Phoenix stormed back to make it a close game as Elon out-scored HPU 6-3 in the second half.
At the eight-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Kaitlyn Michaud's sixth goal made it a one-score contest. After that, the HPU defense held strong over the next six minutes as it held the Phoenix scoreless while Miles netted her third goal in what proved to be the game-winning score.
Elon responded with 12 seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough to top the Panthers.
"Elon played a great game," Miles said. "They came back in the second half definitely, but we stayed up and stayed strong. Our goalies made some huge saves and we had a lot of offensive players step up today. Shout-out to Allie, Esprit and Reese for putting a lot of goals away when we needed them.
"On my game-winning goal, my teammates did a great job clearing space and just letting me finish the last shot. It was a good team win, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season with this momentum."
Aryss Lindsey led the defense with four ground balls and three caused turnovers, one of which was a charge taken in a possession that could have tied the game late.
Joy Coffey and
Ava Welsh split halves in goal again with each having massive saves as Coffey had five and Welsh had seven.
Up Next: The Panthers welcome No. 22 Harvard to town for the team's first-ever meeting, which is set to begin Saturday at 12 p.m.
#GoHPU
