Farmville, Va. — Looking to extend a five-game win streak, the High Point University women's lacrosse team took a trip to Virginia to square off with the Longwood Lancers on Wednesday night. The Panthers extended that streak as they defeated the Lancers, 21-6.
The Panthers were led by
Bella Germani, who scored a career-high five goals.
Esprit Cha finished the game with four goals and an assist.
Allie Connally had another great game with seven points (three goals and four assists). She also recorded eight more draw controls.
In all, High Point had 11 different scorers as Germani, Cha and Connally paved the way with first-half hat tricks.
SITE: Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field
SCORE: High Point 21, Longwood 6
RECORDS: High Point (7-4, 3-0), Longwood (0-9, 0-2)
Head Coach Lyndsey Boswell: "Definitely a little bit of a slow start for us on the road today. So proud of the way that the girls overcame it. The second, third, and fourth quarters, we locked it up, and I thought our execution looked really good once we got through that first quarter."
The Panthers opened up quickly just as they have done over the course of the win streak as Germani scored the first goal of the game off of a pass from Connally. After a goal from Longwood and an early turnover caused by Germani, Connally scored off an assist from Cha.
Connally then found the back of the net for the second time — with 7:35 remaining in the first quarter —as she faked right and went left to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.
The Lancers took a 4-3 lead until Germani tied the game on a free-position shot. Germani then secured a hat trick as she scored her third goal of the quarter. Cha entered the scoring department with 14 seconds remaining in the opening 15 minutes. Connally assisted on both Germani and Cha's goals.
High Point's offense caught fire in the second quarter as
Lily Trout opened up the scoring off of another assist from Connally. Cha then scored back-to-back goals to extend the Panthers lead to 9-5.
Connally scored her third goal of the afternoon on a free-position shot with just over four minutes to play in the half. Germani scored her fourth goal of the game as the Panthers went into halftime with a six-goal lead.
Goalie
Ava Welsh had a dominant first half, saving half the shots on goal from the Lancers, with three saves in the second quarter.
Trout assisted on
Shannon Smith's first goal of the game to open up the second half. Cha found the back of the net on an off-balanced side-arm shot.
Smith scored for a second time – with 8:30 remaining in the third quarter – as
Jaidyn Donley assisted a man-up. Just over two minutes later, Germani scored her career-best fifth goal of the game off of a
Tatum Goettelmann assist. Goettelmann then scored the Panthers' 16th goal.
At the 2:28 mark in the third quarter,
Anna Checkosky secured her first assist of her career as she found Donley with a beautiful pass to extend the lead to 17-5.
Goettelmann assisted on another shot as
Kate Prentice scored to open up the final quarter for her ninth goal this season.
In the game's final nine minutes, the Panthers had three players score their first career goals: junior defender
Sydney Martin, redshirt sophomore midfielder
Rachelle Gauthier, and freshman attacker Checkosky.
Kierstin Hillis assisted on Checkosky's goal.
"Sydney, it was part of the game plan, actually," Boswell said. "We talked about it in practice. If she had a breakaway and an opportunity, she was going to take it, and we gave her the green light. She went for it, and I am really happy for her. It is so awesome to see all these players chipping in, and I mean Rachelle has been through the ringer with her injury, and to see her come back out, and you know she hasn't skipped a beat. Anna, as a freshman, having a goal and chipping in, it's really great to see."
Longwood scored for the first time in the second half with under one minute to play, as they did not score for over 40 minutes. The Panthers shutout their opponent in the third quarter for the third time this season, with the others coming against Virginia Tech and Winthrop.
Joy Coffey entered the game for the Panthers in the fourth quarter and saved five shots, giving up only one goal at the end. Welsh went 54.5 percent with six saves.
Julia Dustin led the defenders with three caused turnovers and two ground balls while
Haley Urban had three ground balls.
Up Next: The High Point Panthers will return home for a matchup against the Furman University Paladins on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m.
#GoHPU
