HPU Women’s Lacrosse Uses 10-Goal Run To Top Liberty 17-5

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The High Point University women’s lacrosse team won its third straight game using 10 straight goals spanning the first and second half to pull away from Liberty en route to a 17-5 win on Friday afternoon in Lynchburg, Va. Junior Kendyl Gardner had five points on four goals and an assist to lead the Panthers.

“I thought we got off to a slow start but once we made a few adjustments we really turned it on,” said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. ” I’m proud of the way that the girls stepped up in the last two-thirds of the game. Kendyl Gardner has been putting in a lot of extra work outside of practice, which I think is really paying off for her and showed today with another great performance. I was also very pleased that we were able to get so many people contributing with 10 different players scoring our 17 goals. I think both of our goalies played very well today and I’m very proud of our defense, which was supportive and able to limit Liberty’s offensive opportunities.”

Leading 6-4, Panthers’ attacker Kendyl Gardner scored three consecutive goals beginning with 6:30 left in the first half and sparked a 10 unanswered goal streak for HPU. High Point also held Liberty to just one goal in the second half to pull away.

HPU improves to 7-5 overall and 3-0 in Big South play with the win. Liberty drops to 2-11 on the year with a 1-2 mark in conference play.

High Point started the scoring when sophomore Emily Meier broke down the center of the field and scored less than two minutes into the game. After Liberty countered, senior Christie Dougherty followed with her first of the day picking up a ground ball of a saved shot, which she then put back to put HPU back up 2-1.

Liberty scored the next two goals to take its only lead of the day, 3-2, before HPU rattled off eight more goals in the half.

Senior Alec Perry broke through the center of the defense and scored to knot the score 3-3 with 17:21 remaining and spark a four unanswered goal streak for the Panthers. The Panthers regained the lead, 4-3, when redshirt-junior Emilie Pugliese cleared down the middle of the field and found junior Stephanie Pazulski in front of the net with a pass that she took and scored to put HPU ahead for good.

Gardner followed with her first of the day as she cut in front of the net and caught a pass from sophomore Clara Osmont to push the lead to 5-3. Gardner then found Dougherty with a pass, which Dougherty snuck past the Liberty goalkeeper for her second of the day.

Liberty’s Morgan Becker stopped the run with her second goal with 7:20 left before Gardner scored three straight to push HPU’s lead to 9-4. Senior Sara Kuhlman tacked on the final goal of the half to send the Panthers into the break ahead 10-4 on another four goal run.

Perry tallied her second of the day to keep the scoring run going for the Panthers just 28 seconds into the second half. Senior Mackenzie Carroll then picked up her second and third assists of the day on passes to Pugliese and Kuhlman. Carroll then scored a goal of her own following Kasey Callaway’s first goal of the season. Kuhlman added her third score of the day with 9:36 remaining to put HPU up 16-4 before LU scored its lone goal of the second half to break the 10 goal run with 4:47 left in the game.

Sophomore Kristina Renner added the final goal with under a minute to go in the contest to seal the 17-5 victory.

HPU went a perfect 15-of-15 on clears and outshot the Flames 31-16. The Panthers put 29 of their 31 shots on goals and won 16 of the 23 draw controls.

High Point continues its current four-game road trip on Sunday as the Panthers travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to face Winthrop at 1 p.m. HPU defeated the Eagles 21-5 last season.