No. 11 HPU MLAX Panthers Fall to St. John’s, 10-9

• Sophomore Asher Nolting led HPU with four points (1 goal, 3 assists).
• Junior Davis Sampere logged a career-high 18 face-off wins.
• The Panthers will be back in action Saturday, March 2.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team fell to St. John’s, 9-10, on Saturday, Feb. 23.

High Point (4-1) took 18-23 face-offs from St. John’s (2-1). The Panthers were 19-21 on clearing opportunities and picked up 46 ground balls, while the Red Storm went 19-23 on clears and had 44 ground balls.

“Hats off to St. John’s,” HPU head coach Jon Torpey said. ”They are a very talented and well coached team, and what they do offensively is not easy to prepare for in a short week. Overall, I thought we did some good things, but we got away from the game plan at certain points and SJU capitalized. We had chances to stretch the lead at several points and tie the game at the end, but we just could not take advantage of the opportunities. We will regroup, fix our deficiencies and look to get back on track Monday.”

Junior Ben Baker and redshirt-senior Chris Young led HPU with two goals, while sophomore Asher Nolting added one goal and three assists. Junior Davis Sampere led the Panthers in the face-off ‘X’ with a career-high 18 wins and grabbed a team-high 11 ground balls. Senior Tim Troutner logged 11 saves.

St. John’s opened the second half with a 3-1 run to tie the game at seven. The Panthers responded with a goal from Nolting and a goal from Baker to take a 9-7 lead. The Johnnies scored three unanswered goals to take the lead and the game 10-9.

The Panthers led 6-4 at halftime with goals two goals from Young and one goal from freshman Joel Scerbo, Sampere, junior Ben Baker and junior Dalton Sulver. The Purple & White had 21 ground balls at the break.

Up next, the Panthers will host Robert Morris on Saturday, March 2, at Vert Stadium. The opening face-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.