• Senior Dan Lomas tallied two goals to round out his career with 159 goals.
• Senior Matt Thistle moved past 200 points in the Purple & White with a goal and an assist on the night.
• Freshman Tim Troutner Jr. made 11 saves in goal while grabbing a team-best five ground balls.
RICHMOND, Va. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team grabbed an early lead, but couldn’t hold on as Richmond earned a 17-6 victory in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament on Thursday night.
The Panthers (9-6) scored first before the Spiders (11-4) went on a 4-0 run to grab a three-goal lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I’m proud of everything our seniors have done for this program,” head coach Jon Torpey said. “This is certainly not the way that we wanted to send them out, but their contributions to this program over the past four and five years has been incredible. My love for this group is immeasurable and my heart hurts for those guys.”
Senior Dan Lomas notched two goals to round out his career with a program-best 159 goals. Likewise, senior Matt Thistle and junior Sean Harrison posted two points with a goal and an assist apiece.
Thistle’s two points gave him 201 points in the Purple & White after registering 11 points in his first collegiate season at Manhattan.
In goal, freshman Tim Troutner Jr. made 11 saves to go with a team-leading four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Meanwhile, senior Zack Price picked up three grounders in the contest.
Rounding out the offense, junior Dallas Bridle and sophomore Connor Robinson added goals while junior Michael LeClair and sophomore Peyton Garrett notched an assist.
LeClair’s fourth-quarter assist extended his scoring streak to 41 games – the seventh longest in the nation.
Richmond controlled the face-off circle going 18-25 and picked up a +19 margin in ground balls (37-18). The extra possessions resulted in a 39-19 advantage in shots and 28-11 edge in shots on goal.
The Panthers struck first when Robinson snuck around the left side of the cage and beat the Richmond goalkeeper low. However, the Spiders answered with a 4-0 run with the last three goals coming in an 18-second span (4-1, 4:54).
Two minutes later, Lomas whipped a shot over his right shoulder to make it 4-2. Then, Harrison followed to cut the deficit at one with 12:14 on the second-quarter clock.
But Richmond bounced back with four straight goals to close out the half highlighted by a goal at the buzzer to take an 8-3 lead into the break.
After halftime, the Spiders extended their lead to five just two minutes into the third quarter. Bridle slowed the UR run with a tally at the 12:22 mark to make it 9-4 early in the third.
However, the Panthers couldn’t claw any closer as the Spiders scored consecutive markers with 4:44 and 3:58 on the clock (11-4). Lomas pulled the Purple & White back within six with six seconds remaining in the third frame (11-5).
Once again, Richmond has the answer as the home team finished the contest on a 6-0 before Thistle closed out the scoring on LeClair’s assist (17-6, 0:59). Richmond advances to take on Air Force in the SoCon Championship game on Saturday.