HIGH POINT, N.C. – It was a battle for the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title in the final game for the High Point University Panthers at Vert Stadium. The Panthers entered the game unbeaten in league play, facing the also unbeaten No. 5 ranked Richmond Spiders Friday night. After jumping out with energy in the first quarter, HPU fell 19-10 in the regular-season finale.
 
"I'm proud of how hard our guys played," Head Coach John Crawley stated. "I felt like in the first half we were putting ourselves in some really good positions but frankly we just are not taking care of the ball well enough and that's what it ended up coming down to. Richmond is very disciplined with the ball, and they are very patient on offense and they make the most out of their opportunities. We made unforced turnovers; they did not make unforced turnovers. They forced us to play full clocks on the defensive side and they're just really efficient with the ball. Offensively at times I thought we could stick with them today and other times we were just a little careless and casual with our exchanges. We didn't turn our faceoff advantage from Luca [Accardo] into more possession time and that ultimately became the difference."
 
Site: Vert Stadium
Score: High Point 19, No. 5 Richmond 10
Records: High Point (6-7, 5-1), No. 6 Richmond (12-1, 6-0)
 
High Point was hot to start the game. After Richmond scored the first goal, the Panthers went on a three-goal surge within a two-minute span. The first goal was tagged by Carson Robins on a solo shot. Following Robins goal, Luca Accardo won the faceoff and sprinted down field in transition to find Owen Cooper in the middle. Stepping in for a long shot, Cooper scored his first goal of the season to put HPU up 2-1.
 
By the eight-minute mark, the Panthers led 3-1 with a goal from Ian Cann off a pass from Justin Wixted. The momentum continued to roll as Wixted joined in on the goal action with a turnaround jump shot to make it 4-2 with five and a half minutes to go in the first quarter.
 
Richmond answered and tied the game at four all at the end of the first quarter.
 
To start the second quarter, High Point won the initial faceoff. HPU worked the ball on offense until Robins found an open gap and sent a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the evening and make it 5-4 in favor of the Panthers.
 
Through 10 minutes of the second quarter, High Point went cold on the attack and trailed 9-5 before Fenderson scored at the three-and-a-half-minute mark. HPU trailed 10-6 at the end of the first 30 minutes of action.
 
In the third quarter, Richmond outscored the Panthers 4-1 with HPU's lone goal from Fenderson. Entering the fourth, HPU trailed 14-7.
 
Attempting to spark a fire in the Panthers offense, High Point scored two goals in the first five minutes. The first from Brice Richins who scooped up a ground ball on the faceoff and took off down field to score. Then Nicholas Steele sent a pass over to Owen Bunten on a fastbreak to score the second goal at the 10:38 mark.
 
Trailing 15-9, the Panthers were unable to close the gap before the final horn sounded, falling 19-10.
 
Following the regular-season, Accardo became the All-Time Leader in Career Ground Balls with 363. He finished the night versus Richmond with 10 ground balls while going 18-29 on the faceoff.
 
UP NEXT:
High Point will await the seeding for the Atlantic 10 Championships which will begin on Thursday, April 30, hosted by Richmond.