HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team hosted the University of Massachusetts on Saturday, March 14 for the first Atlantic 10 Conference game of the season. The Panthers faced their fourth ranked opponent this season and prevailed against the No. 17 ranked Minutemen, 15-7 at Vert Stadium.
The highlight of the game was
Luca Accardo at the faceoff X. His dominant performance led to 22 faceoff wins, which match his own single-game program record that he set a season ago. He is currently tied for sixth in the nation in ground balls per game averaging 8.00 after securing a team-high 16 against the Minutemen.
"I'm proud of how our team has bounced back after what was a tough start to the year," Head Coach
John Crawley stated." We had 10 days reset and prepare and I felt that the things that we did in practice this week started to apply in today's game. I thought we had a little bit more passion and a little bit more energy. Starting the game I didn't think we were very clean but as we continued through the game and the energy of the first quarter wore off, I thought we settled in and did a much better job. I still think there's better lacrosse for us to play, I think that we left some on the table today but I'm definitely proud of the response and how we played with a ton of energy today."
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: High Point 15, No. 17 UMass 7
Records: High Point (2-5, 1-0), No. 17 UMass (7-2, 0-1)
Owen Bunten scored early for HPU, registering the first goal of the game in the Panthers' first possession to lead 1-0. Seconds before the end of the first quarter, the Minutemen evened the score with a goal.
It only took six seconds into the second quarter for Accardo to win the faceoff and net HPU's second goal of the game and his third of the season. With no defenders to stop him, he made his way straight down field to make it 2-1, in favor of the Panthers.
After holding the lead through 19 minutes of action, UMass scored on back-to-back plays and went up 3-2 with under 10 minutes to go in the first half.
In the next possession, Accardo secured the faceoff and Coach Crawley called a timeout to take advantage of the possession. Out of the timeout,
Ryan Hynes scored to make it 3-3. From there the Panthers went on a six goal run to end the first half and lead 8-3.
In the mix of the six goals scored,
Magnus Falkiewicz scored his first collegiate goal followed by a hat trick from
Carson Robins. By the end of the first 30 minutes of action, Accardo had won 11 faceoffs.
"Most notably Luca [Accardo] had an unbelievable game," Coach Crawley added. "I think that it's really hard for another team to stay in it when our guy is that consistent at earning possessions."
In the second half, HPU put together two strong quarters outscoring UMass 7-4 with the help of big saves from
Zack Overend in goal who finished with 13 saves.
Justin Wixted joined Robins with a hat trick, scoring three goals in the second half while Hynes, Bunten and Falkiewicz each finished the game with a pair of goals.
High Point held on to the lead through the final two quarters, only letting the game get within four goals early in the third. The Panthers handled business with a 15-7 victory for its first win over a ranked opponent this season.
UP NEXT:
High Point travels to Delaware on March 21 for a 12:00 PM game in Newark, Delaware.
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
