HPU Women’s Lacrosse Rolls to 17-7 Win in Big South Semifinals

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The High Point University women’s lacrosse team scored the first nine goals en route to a 17-7 route of Longwood in the Big South Tournament semifinals on Friday night at Richardson Stadium in Davidson, N.C. Junior attacker Mackenzie Carroll scored two goals with three assists in the first half.

HPU will face top-seed Davidson in the Big South title game on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN3.

“We wanted to come out and get momentum in our direction right away and I thought we did that tonight,” said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. “We were focused on winning all the scrappy stats like draw controls and ground balls and we also worked on shot selection over the past few weeks. Overall we were happy with this game and we’re looking forward to facing a good Davidson team on Sunday.”

Senior attacker Grace Gaeng scored the first two goals of the game and added an assist and junior midfielder Sara Kuhlman notched a hat trick. Longwood had three players with two goals each, including Jamie Brentlinger, who also had two assists.

High Point improved to 9-8 overall while Longwood finished its season with a 10-8 record. The Panthers went 6-1 in Big South play and finished second in the regular-season standings.

High Point took a quick 1-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game on Gaeng’s first tally with an assist from Carroll. Gaeng made it 2-0 at 24:33 when she darted through the Lancer defense and zipped a shot past Longwood keeper Christian Acker. That started a span of 4:50 in which the Panthers scored five times. Just 38 seconds after Gaeng’s second goal, Kendyl Gardner scored. When freshman Allie Foard scored on a feed from Carroll with 8:39 left in the first half, HPU led 9-0.

Longwood challenged with two quick goals off draws – getting a score from Lauren Prasnicki with 7:15 left and another from Brentilinger with 6:51 remaining – to make it 9-2. The Panthers stuffed the opportunity by scoring the last five goals of the half, including two by freshman Emily Meier in the last minute, to lead 14-2 at the break.

The Panthers held their wide margin throughout the second half while getting most of the bench into the game. After Longwood’s Prasnicki scored with 28:18 to go, HPU junior Alec Perry won the next draw and scored to make it 15-3 with 27:30 on the clock. Kuhlman and Foard added scores in the second half to make it a 17-6 final.

Senior Anna Wallingford played the first half and earned the with with four saves. Sophomore Julia Burns made four saves in the second half. Acker and Caitlyn Miller split time for Longwood with Acker taking the loss.

Perry led High Point with five draw controls and extended her season-long scoring streak. Freshman Lila Mastroberti posted four draw controls.

No. 1-seed Davidson defeated No. 4 Liberty, 17-8, in the first semifinal on Friday to earn a trip to the Sunday’s championship game. The Wildcats defeated HPU, 11-9, in the teams’ meeting on April 12.