• Junior Jamie Piluso had a great performance at the face-off ‘X’ going 20-of-28 (71 percent and led HPU with nine ground balls
• Junior Matt Thistle led the offense with four points (2g, 2a).
• The Panthers will remain on the road when they travel to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on St. Joseph’s on Saturday at noon.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team went on the road to No. 6 North Carolina and suffered a 15-9 setback on Tuesday night at Navy Field.
The Panthers (1-2) fell behind UNC (2-0) by five goals at 6-1 in the first 10 minutes and couldn’t come back. The game was originally scheduled to take place at Feltzer Field, but was moved due to the weather.
“I think the first quarter did us in when we came out a little passive,” head coach Jon Torpey said of the squad’s start. “I thought the guys really did a great job of competing in the second quarter and the second half.”
Junior Matt Thistle led the Purple & White’s offensive attack with two goals and two assists while redshirt-junior Brad James had two goals. Sophomore Michael LeClair, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, chipped in with a goal and an assist.
Junior Jamie Piluso controlled the face-off ‘X’ going 20-of-28 (71 percent) – including an 11-of-13 performance in the second half. Junior Dan Lomas posted a goal to go with six ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Redshirt-senior Austin Geisler made 12 saves in goal and collected five groundballs in the game.
Freshman Connor Robinson and redshirt-junior Mitchell Dupere scored goals while sophomore Sean Harrison and redshirt-junior tallied one assist apiece.
The Tar Heels got off to a quick start with two early goals and took a 2-0 lead with 10:18 left in the first quarter. Robinson had the answer for the Panthers with a man-up goal off of an assist by Thistle (2-1, 9:29).
However, UNC went on a 4-0 run to build a 6-1 lead with 5:14 left in the opening quarter. James posted another man-up goal with 4:21 to pull HPU within four at 6-2, but Peyton Klawinski scored to make it 7-2 through one quarter.
UNC continued to build its lead with consecutive goals to start the second quarter before Thistle scored to make it 9-3 with 8:24 on the clock. Lomas, then, added a goal to cut it to 9-4 as the teams went to halftime.
Thistle opened the scoring in the second half with a goal to make it 9-5 just two and a half minutes into the third quarter. The Tar Heels extended their lead back to five goals at 10-5 (9:11). The Panthers cut the deficit back to four at 10-6 when Levine assisted on LeClair’s goal with 6:16 left in the third quarter.
But once again, UNC had the answer as Jimmy Bitter scored his fourth goal of the contest to make it 11-6 (5:26). The Tar Heels pulled ahead 12-6 with a goal by Chad Tutton with two seconds left in the third quarter.
The Tar Heels run continued in the fourth quarter as they built a 15-6 lead with 11:20 to play. James ended the run with his second goal to make it 15-7 with 7:22 remaining. Dupere and Carns added consecutive goals to pull HPU within six goals at 15-9 with 2:22 in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers couldn’t get any closer as UNC was able to run out the rest of the clock and come away with a 15-9 victory.
The Purple & White will travel to Philadelphia, Pa. on Saturday to take on St. Joseph’s at noon.