ROCK HILL S.C. — The High Point University women's lacrosse team opened up Big South Conference play by defeating Winthrop University on Wednesday afternoon, 16-6. High Point saw 12 different Panthers hit the back of the net.
HPU was led by Lily Trout, who set a career-high with seven points — three goals and four assists — as her three goals tied a career-high and the four assists set a new high. Shannon Smith and Tatum Goettelmann each scored twice while Madilyn Wargo earned her first collegiate start in net behind a career-high 11 saves.
SITE: Eagle Field
SCORE: High Point 16, Winthrop 6
RECORDS: High Point (1-7, 1-0), Winthrop (5-4, 0-1)
Head Coach Lyndsey Boswell: "We've been really excited to start conference play. We played such a strong out-of-conference schedule, and I'm just so happy to see their hard work and out-of-conference play pay off today. I'm excited about a strong start, and I think we're just ready for a new season. We knew who our team was going into today because of all the adversity that we've faced. So the message was to play with joy, play with gratitude, have so much fun together. They've earned it, and we haven't been able to see it show up on the scoreboard, but we knew we were good, and we're just happy to see it play out on the field."
After Winthrop scored the first goal of the game, the Panthers started to find their rhythm, going on a 3-0 run behind goals from Trout, Anna Checkosky, and Bella Germani. Winthrop scored one more goal, but the Panthers went into the second quarter up 3-2.
Despite being up by just one goal, the Panthers never looked back as they went on another run, this time 9-0. Goettelmann and Smith both scored their first goals of the game before Trout scored twice in just 37 seconds. Goettelmann found the back of the net off a Trout pass as the Panthers went up 8-2 with just over nine minutes left in the first half. Eva Thorn scored her first goal of the season, then Kate Prentice got the Panthers into double-digits before the half-ended. High Point took a 10-2 lead into halftime.
Trout dished out her third assist of the game to open up the second half, finding Smith. Lauren Pujolar completed the 9-0 run — with the second goal of her career — when she won the draw control and sprinted to the cage for the score. The Eagles then scored their first goal since the first quarter.
Freshman Ava Grandi scored her first career goal, receiving a pass from Trout, as the Panthers went back up by 10. The Panthers went into the fourth quarter up 13-4.
All three Panthers' tallies in the final quarter were recorded by freshmen, who all scored their first career goals. Grandi recorded her first career assist as she found Gretchen Kawecki for the Connecticut native's first collegiate goal. Thorn found Kayleigh White for her first collegiate goal with 5:45 to play, while Emily Frescoln scored the final goal of the game —with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter — on an 8-meter as the Panthers won 16-6.
"It means a lot to us because we knew we were going into a difference season with conference," Grandi said, "and it's really exciting to see how many girls we can get on the field and how many people can produce for a win like this."
In the cage, Wargo saved 64.7 percent of the shots she faced while shutting out the Eagles in the second quarter and corralling her career-high 11 saves.
Seven Panthers recovered at least two ground balls, while Germani had three and Haley Urban finished with four. High Point won the draw control battle, winning 14 to the Eagles' 10 as Anna Mullikin had a career-high four, Addision McEvers won three while Gracie Vickery, Emerson Pekarcik, and Pujolar won two apiece.
Three Panthers forced two turnovers: Vickery, Sydney Martin, and Pekarcik. High Point forced Winthrop to turn the ball over 22 times and went 22-25 on the clear.
Up Next: The Panthers will return home to take on Mercer University. The matchup will take place on Saturday, March 28, at 12:00 p.m.
#GoHPU x #RollThers
