HPU women’s lacrosse drops 10-7 contest in Big South title game

• Senior Allie Foard led the Panthers with three goals
• Freshman Samantha Herman tallied a career-high six draw controls and caused three turnovers
• HPU’s 8-member senior class graduates with 45 career wins over four seasons

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The High Point University women’s lacrosse team (13-6) fell in the Big South title game to Winthrop, 10-7, on Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.

WU scored the first four goals of the game, but HPU rallied back to tie the score at 7-7 with 15:39 left in the game. From there, the Eagles posted the final three goals of the game to come away with the win.

HPU’s turnaround season ends with a 13-6 record and a 7-1 mark in league play. A year after finishing 8-10, the Panthers nearly doubled their win total and are set up well to once again compete for a Big South crown in 2017. Much of that success can be attributed to HPU’s 2016 senior class, which graduates with 45 career victories.

“I give a lot of credit to Winthrop for executing their gameplan today,” head coach Lyndsey Boswell said. “I’m proud of our seniors for all they’ve given to this program. Their leadership this season put us back in position to compete for a championship. I’m excited about what our underclassmen will bring next year – they are very capable of continuing the leadership that our program has benefited from since its inception. Our team faced some adversity today and I though we dealt with it well. The adjustments we had to make weren’t enough to win at the end.”

HPU held a sizable advantage at the draw (12-7) for the day and was +2 (17-15) in ground balls. High Point limited the Eagles to a 1-of-7 clip from the free position, but Winthrop took advantage of five HPU yellow cards, scoring on four man-up opportunities.

Senior Allie Foard led the Panthers with a hat trick and converted her only free position attempt in her final game for the Purple & White. Sophomore Erin Ilchuk added a pair of goals and caused a turnover, while senior Emily Meier tallied two points (1g, 1a) on the day.

In the midfield, freshman Samantha Herman registered a career-best six draw controls and caused three turnovers on the day, while senior Kristina Renner picked up three draws and caused a turnover.

With her third draw of the day, Renner broke her own school record for draw controls in a season. She ends the year with 53 draws and finishes her career second all-time on the HPU draw control list (125).

Freshman goalie Molly Andrews made six saves in a full 60 minutes in the cage for the Purple & White.

Winthrop controlled time of possession early and jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the game’s first 20 minutes. But from there, HPU won four-straight draw controls and began to speed up the game and play at Panther tempo.

HPU used the style shift to rocket back with three goals in two and a half minutes. The run included a pair of goals from Foard and a nice dodge and finish to the cage from Perrotta.

The half ended with 7:30 of back-and-forth scoreless action as WU took a 4-3 lead into the break.

Winthrop went back up two (5-3) at the 26:36 mark of the second half, but HPU rallied right back with goals from Foard and Ilchuk to tie it up with 22 minutes to play.

The Eagles posted the next two goals to go back up two (7-5), but from there, the Panthers mounted a comeback. An acrobatic pivot and finish from Meier pulled HPU within one (7-6), then a long-distance bullet from Erin Ilchuk knotted it up at 7-7 with 15:34 to play.

Winthrop scored a pair of goals over the next eight minutes to go up 9-7 with 6:22 left and tallied a third with under three minutes to play to seal the victory.

After the game, Foard, Herman and junior Samantha Brown were named to the Big South All-Tournament Team for their strong efforts over HPU’s three tournament contests.

The Panthers now get to work during the 2016-17 offseason. HPU returns 24 of 32 letter winners and seven starters in 2017.