GENEVA, NY – The High Point University men's lacrosse team prevailed for its final Atlantic 10 Conference road game of the season, defeating Hobart on its home turf, 15-8, on Saturday. The Panthers came back from an early deficit to win their fifth conference game this season.
Site: Boswell Field
Score: High Point 15, Hobart 8
Records: High Point (6-5, 5-0), Hobart (2-9, 0-5)
Head Coach John Crawley: "We knew coming into this game we were going to get a tough and scrappy Hobart group. Coach Brundage does a great job with those guys, and we felt it in the first five minutes of the game. I am proud of how our guys settled in after a bad first quarter. I thought we were a bit passive and not urgent enough early on, and those things changed mid way through the first quarter. Proud of our group in how they remained poised, reset and did their job the rest of the way."
Hobart started the game with the first three goals, but the Panthers quickly bounced back with
Nicholas Steele getting the Panthers started.
Justin Wixted found his teammates —
Owen Bunten and
Luke Fenderson — to shorten the gap and finish off the first quarter with the Panthers trailing, 5-3.
As the second quarter began, the Panthers started off hot with
Ian Cann scoring a quick goal to bring High Point within one. Bunten fired to the back of the net to make it a tied game, and then the Panthers got into a great rhythm with back-to-back goals from Bunten and
Ryan Hynes. The Statesmen answered back; however, the Panthers headed into halftime up 7-6.
The third quarter was all Panthers as they netted five unanswered goals. The first was by Steele with his second goal of the game followed by Wixted with back-to-back goals, and then it was capped by
Carson Robins' two goals to put the Panthers up, 12-6.
Hobart scored to open the fourth quarter, but Robins scored on a man-up opportunity, and on the next possession Bunten netted one in from an assist from
Luca Accardo. Robins then scored again for the Panthers to cap a 8-2 second-half run en route to a 15-8 victory.
Wixted had a team-high seven points (two goals, five assists) as Robins followed with six points (four goals, two assists) and Bunten tacked on four goals. Accardo won 17 of 22 face-offs and a team-high eight ground balls while
Zack Overend had seven saves in the cage, helping the Panthers maintain their unbeaten conference record.
UP NEXT: High Point will stay in New York to face Cornell on Monday, April 13 for a matchup against the reigning champions at noon in Ithaca.
#GoHPU x #A10MLAX
