Site: High Point, N.C. (Vert Stadium)
Score: High Point 13, Bellarmine 5
Records: High Point (3-5, 2-1), Bellarmine (2-9, 0-3)
Next HPU Event: Saturday, April 17th vs. Mercer
HIGHT POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team enjoyed the return to the friendly home confines of Vert Stadium with a 13-5 win over Bellarmine.
The Panthers have not been at home since a win over Robert Morris back in mid-February. The Panthers shared the ball incredibly well with 12 assists on 13 goals, with 8 of them coming from Asher Nolting. Nolting’s eight assists in a single game set a Panther record for assists in a game, breaking his prior record of seven. The team’s twelve assists are the second-most in a single game in program history. Both Kevin Rogers and Brayden Mayea lead the goal scoring for the Panthers with three apiece. The Panthers also dominated at the face-off winning 17 of 20 faceoffs in the game.
“Great sixty-minute effort – we were looking for one of those. We played well in spurts. We have had the slow start with our first quarter before, but today we came out and played really hard and I’m proud of how the guys competed for the entire game,” Head Coach Jon Torpey said. “It got close there in the third, but we stayed the course and stuck with the game plan and the guys ended up doing a great job with that.”
The Panthers dominated the first quarter of play by outscoring Bellarmine 4-0. Senior Sean Coughlin started the scoring with the first two goals of the game. Nolting assisted on both goals. Rogers doubled up with the next two goals of the game, one of which was assisted by Nolting to continue his hot start. The Panthers continued their elite play early in the second quarter when Mayea got on the board for the first time in the game. He was assisted on the goal from none other than Nolting.
After the 5-0 lead, the Knights started to battle back in the second quarter. Bellarmine outshot HPU 10-6 in the quarter and had five shots on goal to one for HPU. Bellarmine was rewarded with two goals in the second quarter, including one with seven seconds remaining in the half to bring the score to 5-2 HPU heading into the break.
The third quarter continued to belong to the Knights as they outscored HPU 2-0 in the quarter to bring the score to 5-4 HPU heading into the final quarter of play. Both teams played solid defense and it was a physical hard-hitting quarter.
The HPU offense exploded in the fourth quarter and outscored Bellarmine 8-1, including a six-goal run to start the quarter. The Panthers also dominated the face-off during this quarter winning eight faceoffs to one. The Panthers began the offensive onslaught with Rogers scoring his hat trick goal on an assist from Hunter Vines. Less than a minute later, Dalton Sulver scored on an assist from freshman Jack VanOverbeke. Vines got his first goal of the game on another assist from Nolting.
The highlight goal of the match was at the 8:53 mark of the fourth quarter when Mayea scored an acrobatic behind-the-back goal on yet another assist from Nolting. Goals from Sulver and the hat trick goal from Mayea completed the six-goal run for the Panthers as they extended their lead to 11-4.
After a Bellarmine goal, Nolting had his final assist of the day as he assisted senior Tyler Stinson on his first goal of the season. The Panthers added a final goal with one second remaining as Michael Ippolito added his second goal of the season and the Panthers’ only unassisted goal of the afternoon.
Besides the second-most assists in a single game in team history, the Panthers also tied their program high with four man-up goals in the game. The Panthers seventeen face-off wins also tied for the 5th most in program history.
UP NEXT: High Point continues to enjoy the friendly home confines of Vert Stadium as they will host conference foe, Mercer, on Saturday, April 17th. The game will start at noon and will be streamed on ESPN+.