BUIES CREEK, N.C. — The High Point University women's lacrosse team netted 10 first-half goals en route to its first win of the season, defeating Campbell University, 15-10, on a gloomy Saturday afternoon.
Allie Connally loaded the stat sheet as she dished out a career-high four assists, scoring two goals and team-high six points while having two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls.
Shannon Smith scored a career-high four goals as
Esprit Cha and
Bella Germani each netted hat trick. In the cage,
Ava Welsh matched her career-high 12 saves and had three ground balls.
SITE: Barker Lane Stadium
SCORE: High Point 15, Campbell 10
RECORDS: High Point (1-1), Campbell (1-1)
Head Coach Lyndsey Boswell: "I'm really proud of the team for physically and mentally fighting through a ton of adversity today. Ava stepped up big time and gave us a lot of momentum and confidence with their early game saves. We made a lot of mistakes coming out of halftime, but when big plays needed to be made our girls stuck together and made it happen. We are excited about a long stretch of practice headed into two back to back games on the road."
The sun wasn't out in Buies Creek in the teams' 16th meeting Saturday, but the Panthers took it upon themselves to light it up. In the first half alone, HPU had 10 goals as six came in the first quarter for a 10-2 half-time advantage. Connally scored two goals and had two assists in the opening 10 minutes, while Cha, Germani and Smith also added goals.
In the second quarter,
Reese Dowgiallo scored her first goal of 2025, and
Kate Prentice followed with her first goal in Purple & White. Smith scored another goal to extend a 5-0 run and 9-1 advantage on a woman-up opportunity.
With under four minutes left in the first half, Campbell scored their second goal, but HPU answered right back on a woman-up opportunity — as Germani scored via a
Tatum Goettelmann assist — to make it 10-2 at the break.
The Camels responded to the Panthers' fiery first half, outscoring them 8-5 in the final 30 minutes of play. After Smith opened the half on woman-up goal, Campbell scored the next five of six goals to cut into the deficit, 12-7.
In-between the Camel goals, Cha made a highlight play, where she caused a turnover then scooped the ground ball en route to a spinning, empty-net goal to register her first hat trick this season.
Smith, who drained four of her five on goal attempts, snapped the scoring run via an assist from Connally. The Panthers held off the Camels the next 11 minutes as Germani secured her first career hat trick on Connally's fourth assist and Dowgiallo netted her second goal, via
Jaidyn Donley's first career assist.
Sydney Martin, Germani and Cha joined Connally with two ground balls, while
Julia Dustin had another impressive outing with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Lily Trout won a new career-high seven draw controls.
Up Next: The Panthers stay on the road as they head to Liberty University for a match on Wednesday, February 26 at 4 p.m.
#GoHPU
