HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s lacrosse team improved to 2-0 in the Big South with a 17-4 win over Coastal Carolina on Monday afternoon at Vert Stadium. Junior Sara Kuhlman scored four goals and had one assist in the win.
“We’ve been working a lot on our transitions and our offense and I think we saw some of the results of that today,” said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. “It’s great to get another win at home. We’ll look to keep working hard in practice this week and get ready for two more Big South games this weekend.”
Kuhlman led all scorers with five points and had two caused turnovers. Two other players picked up hat tricks: junior Alec Perry and freshman Emily Meier. Senior Grace Gaeng had two goals, two assists and seven draw controls. Junior Jasmine Jordan led the team with four ground balls.
Coastal Carolina freshman Paige Timberg scored two of her team’s four goals and assisted on a third to lead the Chanticleers’ offense. Freshmen Kimmy Delonge and Keri White also scored for CCU. White also tied for the team lead with two ground balls.
Timberg scored the first goal of the game less than two minutes into the contest, but HPU came roaring back with seven-straight goals to go ahead 7-1. Meier opened the scoring for the Panthers with her fourth goal of the season just 25 seconds after Timberg’s goal, tying the game at 1-1.
Gaeng put HPU ahead for good with a pair of goals that made it 3-1. Her second score was the first of four HPU goals between 16:16 and 15:16. She was followed by Meier, Perry and Kuhlman. Freshman Allie Foard notched her first two assists of the season on the goals by Meier and Perry. Overall, it was a 7-0 run that lasted 17 minutes and the game wasn’t in doubt after that.
Following a CCU timeout, the Chanticleers’ Delonge scored on a bounce shot from the left post that made it 7-2 with 8:27 to go in the first half. However, the Panthers countered with another 6-0 run that spanned both halves. HPU led 9-2 at halftime on Foard’s first collegiate goal. After the break, Perry scored shortly after the opening draw. It was 13-2 when Carroll came from behind the net to score with 25:02 left in the game.
HPU outscored Coastal Carolina 4-2 the rest of the half to pick up the 17-4 win. Freshman Clara Osmont scored her first collegiate goal, unassisted, with 19:55 to go. For Meier, it was her first collegiate hat trick. She has scored six goals with seven assists in the last three games.
High Point senior Anna Wallingford earned the win with two saves in the first half. Sophomore Julia Burns played the second half for HPU, getting a save, a caused turnover and two ground balls. Coastal Carolina goalie Trista Kuehn made 15 saves in the losing effort.
High Point dominated every team stat category, going 17-for-18 on clears and outshooting Coastal Carolina, 38-12. High Point had 20 ground balls to Coastal’s 10 and led draw controls, 17-6.
High Point continues its four-game home stand against Winthrop on Friday at 6 p.m. at Vert Stadium. It’s the Eagles’ inaugural women’s lacrosse season. HPU hosts Liberty on Sunday at 1 p.m.