College Men’s Lacrosse: HPU Panthers fall late at Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team fell at Jacksonville on Saturday, 9-8. HPU rallied to tie the game 8-8in the fourth quarter but the Dolphins scored with 24 seconds remaining in the game to get the win. Freshmen Dan Lomas and Michael Messenger each scored two goals for HPU.

“The guys fought hard to tie the game up late,” said head coach Jon Torpey. “Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to overcome the lapse we had in the third period. At this level you have to execute for all 60 minutes. We look forward to returning home to face Michigan on Wednesday.”

Lomas led the Panthers with four points on two goals and two assists. Sophomore Matt Thistle added one goal and two assists. He has scored in all six games this season. Sophomore Austin Geisler made 13 saves in the loss.

James Trentini paced Jacksonville with two goals and two assists, including an assist on the game-winning goal. Ari Waffle scored two goals, including the game winner.

The Panthers trailed JU 8-6 in the fourth quarter after Trentini scored his second goal of the day with 9:53 left. Lomas and Bryce Parietti evened the score, 8-8, with back-to-back unassisted goals.

Geisler saved a shot by Waffle with 1:20 left in the game but Jacksonville picked up the ground ball and called timeout. The Dolphins ran the clock down to 24 seconds when Waffle found the back of the net for the game winner.

Jacksonville scored the first goal of the game at 10:29 in the opening quarter. Trentini collected a pass from Austin Curtis for the first goal. HPU tied it up on Dylan Bozel’s first goal of the season just two and a half minutes later. The Panthers opened up a 3-1 lead with two more goals. Thistle scored and then assisted on Messenger’s first goal of the day.

High Point got goals from Messenger and Mitchell Dupere in the second quarter to open up 5-2 lead at the half.

The Dolphins scored four straight goals to open the second half and take a 6-5 lead. Lomas knotted the game at 6-6 on a goal with eight seconds left in the third quarter.

The teams traded two goals each in the fourth quarter before Waffle scored the game-winner for the Dolphins.

With the loss, HPU falls to 1-5 this season while Jacksonville earned its first win to stand at 1-2.

High Point went 8-for-10 on clear attempts in the game with the only two failed clears coming in the first quarter.

Jamie Piluso and Tyler Cook each picked up four ground balls. Pat Farrell and Cory Palmer each caused two turnovers.

The Panthers return to Vert Stadium on Wednesday to host Michigan at 7 p.m. The Wolverines are 0-3 to start the season with losses at Bellarmine, No. 4 Johns Hopkins and Army.