CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The High Point men's lacrosse team traveled up to Charlottesville, Virginia for its second road contest of the season to take on the No. 12 ranked University of Virginia. The Panthers fell 17-8 to the Cavaliers after 60 minutes of action.
Collin Rovere led the offense with three goals, posting a new career-high with the midfielders first hat trick.
Luca Accardo led the game with four ground balls while
Cole Motter,
Zack Brenfleck,
Justin Wixted and Rovere each picked up three.
Zack Overend recorded 13 saves and finished with a .447 save percentage in goal.
Site: Klockner Stadium
Score: High Point 6, No. 12 Virginia 17
Records: High Point (2-2), No. 12 Virginia (2-1)
In the first seven minutes of the game, Virginia took to a 3-0 lead. At the 6:26 mark in the first quarter,
Ryan Hynes took a shot that rebounded off the goalie.
Matt Lutzel quickly scooped up the ground ball and shot it into the back of the net to give HPU its first goal of the game.
Virginia immediately answered and scored its fourth goal within 26 seconds of winning the faceoff. The Panthers returned the favor and took advantage of a faceoff violation and traveled down field finding
Colin Cooke open for the Panthers' second goal to make it 4-2 with five minutes to go in the first. The Panthers remained scrappy through the end of the quarter and forced turnovers on the Cavaliers after winning the battle on ground balls.
At the end of the first quarter, High Point trailed 6-2.
In the first five minutes of the second quarter, Rovere started to heat up, registering two back-to-back goals to close the gap back to a two-goal difference, 6-4. Lutzel drew two defenders to him at the top and found Rovere wide open on the side for an uncontested easy goal. He scored his second goal three minutes later on the same side after sizing up his defender and taking him one-on-one.
Mid-way through the second quarter, High Point struggled to get good open looks and were only able to get four shots off before the end of the half. Virginia scored four goals and extended its lead to six, making it 10-4 at the break.
At the start of the second half, Virginia won the initial faceoff, but the Panthers quickly forced a turnover on the Cavaliers and capitalized on it. In a man-up situation, Wixted found Rovere for his third goal of the game at the 13-minute mark in the third quarter.
Throughout a six minute span, Virginia went on a three goal run and extended its lead to 13-5 with just under seven minutes to go in the third.
Tommy Meehan tagged High Point's sixth goal and his first of the season off a pass from Cooke. Before the end of the quarter, Virginia found the back of the net on two more goals to go up 15-6.
In the fourth quarter,
Isiah Moran-Weekes and Meehan scored the last two goals for the Panthers before falling 17-8.
UP Next:
High Point has a 10-day break before traveling to Newark, Delaware to play the University of Delaware on February 28 at 7:00 p.m.
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
