High Point Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Air Force

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team fell to Air Force, 14-4, on Sunday at Vert Stadium. Sophomore Matt Thistle tallied three points on one goal and two assists for the Panthers.

“Air Force is a really solid, well-coached team,” said head coach Jon Torpey. “They won every facet of the game from ground balls to time of possession. I thought we came out with a lot of energy but didn’t execute well. We will spend the week practicing and getting ready for a very good St. Joseph’s team.”

Four different players scored for the Panthers with Thistle, Dan Lomas, Christian Beith and Zack Price all notching a goal. Brad James picked up an assist on Thistle’s goal. Sophomore Austin Geisler took the loss in goal for HPU, despite making 19 saves. He also had five ground balls.

Mike Crampton and Tommy McKee led Air Force with four goals each. Erik Smith had two goals and two assists and Keith Dryer had three assists in the game. Austin Fox made nine saves for the win.

High Point went 17-for-17 on clear attempts while Air Force was 20-for-23. The Panthers limited Air Force to two goals on nine extra-man opportunities.

Smith scored the first two goals of the game for Air Force before High Point answered at 7:39 in the first quarter. Thistle found Lomas in front of the goal. Lomas made one move and put the ball in the back of the net for his 10th goal of the season. The Falcons made it a 3-1 game with 5:58 on the clock when Crampton ran up the right alley and found the back of the net.

Air Force scored the first three goals of the second quarter to open up a 6-1 lead. Price got High Point on the board with his first goal of the season with 2:10 left in the quarter. Thistle passed the ball to Price from behind the net to make it a 6-2 game.

Crampton opened the third quarter with two straight unassisted goals, pushing the Falcons’ lead to 8-2. With 1:28 to play in the quarter, James passed to Thistle behind the net. Thistle turned the corner a buried the ball for HPU’s third goal of the game. Just 28 seconds later Beith picked up the ball on the left side and scored with a shot to the top, right corner to make it an 8-4 game.

The Falcons scored six unanswered goals to end the game, handing High Point a 14-4 loss.

The Panthers went 12-of-22 at the faceoff X, led by Jamie Piluso who was 11-for-18. Piluso also led the team with nine ground balls. Michael Messenger and Geisler had two caused turnovers each.

The loss drops HPU to 1-2 on the season while Air Force evens its record at 1-1.

High Point will face St. Joseph’s on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. in a neutral site contest. The game will be played at Woodberry Forest High School in Woodberry Forest, Va.