HPU Men’s Lacrosse Knocks Off UMBC For Sixth-Straight Win

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team knocked off UMBC, 17-15, on Saturday at Vert Stadium to extend the team’s win streak to six games. The Panthers remain unbeaten at home this season. Freshman Michael LeClair led HPU with four goals and three assists.

“UMBC is a quality team with one of the best head coaches in the game,” said head coach Jon Torpey. “It is a credit to how hard our team has worked to be able to beat UMBC this season. We have a deep bench and every guy who stepped on the field made a big play to get the win. We have taken this season one game at a time, trying to go 1-0 every day, and the result is a six-game win streak.”

The Panthers moved to 6-2 and stay unbeaten at Vert Stadium, 5-0. High Point has won six in a row and doubled last year’s win total. UMBC dropped to 3-3 on the season.

LeClair tallied a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists. Sophomore Matt Thistle added three goals and three assists and scored the final two goals of the game for High Point. Sophomore Dan Lomas added scored a hat trick with one assist. He has now recorded a point in 18-straight games. Lomas also had two caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Redshirt-junior Austin Geisler made 12 saves in the win, including nine in the second half. Sophomore Jamie Piluso went 20-of-34 on face-offs with 10 ground balls.

Matt Gregoire led UMBC with five goals and Jack Gannon scored one goal with four assists. Pat Young added three goals and two assists in the game. Connor Gordon made 12 saves for the Retrievers.

High Point used a five-goal run to take a 7-4 lead early in the second quarter. Lomas started the stretch with a goal, assisted by LeClair, with 1:26 remaining in the first quarter. In the opening three minutes of the second quarter High Point scored four goals, by four different players, capped off by a man-up goal by Lomas.

Piluso won a face-off and carried the ball straight to the goal for a man-down goal with 11 seconds left in the first half. High Point took a 10-7 lead in to the break.

The Retrievers scored the first two goals of the third quarter to close High Point’s lead to one, 10-9, with 5:37 on the clock. Thistle and LeClair answered with goals for the Panthers and the teams traded scores with under a minute remaining in the period. High Point held a 13-11 lead going in to the final 15 minutes.

With just over five minutes left in the game Matt Reeping scored to pull UMBC within one again, 15-14. Thistle scored two goals, 14 seconds apart, to put the Panthers ahead 17-14 with 2:30 to play. High Point picked up a penalty with just over a minute left in the game, and allowed a goal, but held on for the 17-15 win.

High Point had the advantage in shots, 39-32, and ground balls 42-36. High Point went 11-of-12 on clear attempts while UMBC went 14-of-15.

High Point wraps up the five-game home stand on Saturday, March 22 against Mercer at 1 p.m. It is the team’s Play 4Kay game and HPU will be hosting a fanfest with a free cookout, carnival and music by DJ Nico Higgins before the game. If 2,000 fans come to the game Coach Torpey will personally donate $1000 to Play 4Kay.