High Point Men’s Lacrosse Drops Tight Battle to Delaware in Program Opener

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team came up short in the program opener against Delaware on Saturday at Vert Stadium. The Panthers outscored Delaware in the fourth quarter, but fell to the Blue Hens, 12-10.

“I am happy with the effort even if I am not happy with the result,” said head coach Jon Torpey. “Delaware is a really good team and our guys fought the entire game. We had a couple defensive lapses and that was the difference in the game. We really appreciate the support from everyone who came out. It was a great atmosphere.”

Freshman Dan Lomas led High Point with five goals, including two in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Matt Thistle notched a goal and three assists. Redshirt-freshman Adam Seal collected two points, with one goal and one assist.

Redshirt-sophomore Austin Geisler made 14 saves in the loss. Delaware goalie Chris Herbert came up with 12 saves.

Delaware got on the board first with a goal by Eric Smith at 11:07 in the first quarter. Redshirt-freshman Brendan Montrello tallied High Point’s first goal, to tie the score 1-1, with 9:42 on the clock. After the Blue Hens took the lead back, 2-1, High Point scored two in a row. Thistle tied the game, 2-2, with a goal at 8:13 and assisted Adam Seal‘s goal a minute later to put the Panthers on top 3-2.

The Blue Hens scored four unanswered goals to open up a 6-3 lead with five minutes left in the second quarter. Lomas and Smith traded goals to make it a 7-4 game at halftime.

Delaware scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to open up its biggest lead of the game, 12-8. Lomas cut the lead to two with back-to-back goals assisted by Thistle but High Point ran out of time, scoring the final goal with 12 seconds remaining.

Lomas also led HPU with six ground balls while Thistle and Geisler picked up five each. Sophomore Chris Davila won 10 of his 19 faceoffs and picked up four ground balls.

High Point will host Towson on Friday at 3 p.m. at Vert Stadium. It will be the first game of the season for the Tigers who went 7-8 last season.