HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team flies to Colorado for a showdown with Air Force on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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The Panthers (4-3, 0-0) are coming in after winning their last four contests while the Falcons (5-2, 1-0) are riding a conference-best five-game streak.
Last Time Out
The Purple & White raced out to a 7-0 lead after 14 minutes in Saturday’s contest against Providence. The Friars, however, fought back to within one with nine seconds remaining before HPU held on for a 13-12 victory.
Matt Thistle paced the offense with three goals and two assists including a fourth-quarter insurance goal that proved to be the game-winner. Dan Lomas also tallied three goals with all of them coming in a 1:26 span in the first quarter.
Alex Woodall (9-10) and Jamie Piluso (8-18) combined for a .607 face-off percentage and 15 ground balls to help HPU control possession. Meanwhile, seven other Panthers were credited with multiple ground balls as the team tallied a +11 margin on the ground.
Out of the midfield, Connor Robinson racked up two goals and one assist – his best outing of the season. Dallas Bridle (2a) and Sean Harrison (2g) also produced multiple points on the day.
Defensively, High Point registered a season-best 14 caused turnovers led by Richard Byrd’s three, which tied his career high. In goal, Tim Troutner racked up 11 saves, three ground balls and three caused turnovers to earn his third win of the season.
Panther Notes
• Junior Michael LeClair has scored in 33 straight games. That mark in the longest in program history and the sixth-longest active streak nationally.
• In the four-game winning streak, senior Matt Thistle is averaging 4.75 points per game. The attackman tallied 2.33 points per contest in the squad’s first three games.
• HPU is 13th in the nation with 32.57 ground balls per game after averaging a +14.3 margin over the last three games.
• Senior Jamie Piluso and freshman Alex Woodall have combined to post a .684 (54-79) face-off percentage in the last three games.
Active National Leaders
• Senior Dan Lomas is second among active players nationally with 142 career goals. The Burlington, Ontario native also ranks 14th in the nation in career points (160).
• Just ahead of Lomas in career points is senior Matt Thistle with 173 – good for sixth nationally. He’s second in assists (92).
• Senior Jamie Piluso leads all active players in face-offs won (561) and ground balls (287).
Scouting the Falcons
• The Falcons won their first game as a member of the Southern Conference on Saturday with a 14-4 victory over Furman.
• Air Force was picked to place third in the league after going 5-1 against SoCon opponents last season – HPU was the only loss.
• The squad lost its first two games to No. 1 Denver and Navy before rattling off five straight wins. Air Force and HPU have played two common opponents thus far in 2016. The Panthers beat Marist (11-9) and Robert Morris (15-10) while the Falcons earned one-goal wins over those two teams (Marist 7-6, 4OT and RMU 11-10).
• Sophomore Chris Walsch leads the offense with 3.29 points per game. That mark is good for fourth in the conference behind only HPU’s trio of attackmen.
• Senior Doug Gouchoe is second in the SoCon with a 7.35 goals against average and is the reigning conference defensive player of the week.
• In the face-off circle, sophomore Josh Radjenvich leads the squad going 56-94 (.596).
All-Time Series Against Air Force
High Point is 1-0 all-time against the Falcons.
Last Time They Met
• Connor Robinson tallied a career-best four goals while fellow Candians Dan Lomas and Tyler Vogrig notched one apiece.
• Michael LeClair dished out five assists while Jamie Piluso went 18-23 on face-offs and Zack Price caused three turnovers.
Next Up
The Panthers continue their tough start to SoCon play next Sunday when they travel to Richmond for a showdown with the No. 18-ranked Spiders.