Site: Buies Creek, N.C. (Barker Lane Stadium)
Score: High Point 23, Campbell 15
Records: High Point (3-6, 1-0), Campbell (4-6, 2-1)
Next HPU Event: Wednesday, April 10th, — vs Winthrop (Senior Night) 1:00 PM (High Point, N.C.) (ESPN3)
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The High Point University women’s lacrosse team won its first Big South conference game of the season in its Big South opener against Campbell 23 -15. Abby Hormes tied the HPU program record for goals in a single game with eight goals in the winning effort, tying Allie Foard’s long-standing total. Hormes set a career-high in goals with eight. Ashley Britton finished with a career-high seven goals, tying the third-most in a single game for HPU. The duo of Hormes and Britton combined for 15 goals in the win. The output of 23 goals for The Panthers is the fourth most goals in a single game by a High Point team.
“I am really happy to get this first conference game under our belt and the fact that it comes with a win with several contributors makes me so proud,” Coach Lyndsey Boswell said following the win. “To see some of these girls who haven’t been on the field before or haven’t been in the position they were in, come out and give the team all they had was really special. We had eight contributing goal scorers which makes me really proud. The connection between Abby and Ashley right now is something that is special and I am happy to see them work so well together on the field today scoring 15 of 23 goals is pretty amazing. I’m really happy to see where we are right now and excited for what’s to come.”
High Point opened up the first half with a hot start offensively going up 4-0 in the first six minutes and ten seconds of the contest. Kay Rosselli scored the first goal of the game moving her season total up to three. Abby Hormes scored the second goal of the day which gave her 24 goals on her season total. Britton scored two quick ones for HPU, Campbell scored their first goal of the day Kaely Kyle answered with a goal of her own. After a Britton goal made the score 6-2. Katie Hormes scored the first goal of her Panther career in the first half as she caught a pass from Rosselli and finished on the run to push the lead to five and make the score 7-2 with 15:52 left in the first half. Campbell scored two goals and made it a three-goal game (7-4) with 14:45 to play. Rachel Foster scored a man-up goal off of a feed from Mena Loescher. Campbell again brought the lead down to three, Nicole Pugh and Britton scored to give High Point double digits, and pushed the Panther lead to five 10-5.
A late three-goal run for Campbell to end the first half brought the HPU lead down to 10-8 with 3:12 to play in the first half. The Panthers were able to hold the Camels at 8 to end the first half and took a 10-8 lead into the half.
Sadie Coachman started the game in cage for the Panthers, the sophomore from Rochester, N.Y. saw her first action in a High Point uniform and made six saves in her collegiate debut. Coachman ended her debut after nearly a half of play with a .429 save percentage. Coachman picked up her first collegiate win on Wednesday evening.
Jill Rall came in the last three minutes of the first half and remained in for the rest of the game making five saves and protected the Panther lead and helped secure the first conference win of the year.
“Jill came in really big behind Sadie who gave us some really awesome opportunities and made some saves”, Coach Boswell said about the play of her goalies. “Between the two of them, 11 saves in the cage and seven ground balls which gave us the opportunity to get the ball back on our end and score a lot of goals.”
High Point started the second half the same way they started the first with a 4-0 run. Abby Hormes scored three out of the four goals while Britton added one which put HPU up 14-8 with 27:25 remaining in the game.
The Camels were able to get the lead down to three in the second half as it was 16-13 with 18:39 left. Abby Hormes, Katie Hormes, and Britton powered a five-goal run as Abby Hormes and Britton scored two goals each while Katie Hormes added one to extend the lead to 21-13 with 11:42 to play. Foster added to the run giving HPU its sixth unanswered goal of the run as Abby Hormes and Foster each scored thrilling backhand goals one after the other to give High Point its 21st and 22nd goals of the day. Loescher scored the last Panther goal of the day as High Point won 23-15 opening Big South play on the road with a win.
UP NEXT: The Panthers return to Vert Stadium for Senior day as HPU hosts Winthrop on Saturday, April 10th with first draw at 1:00 PM.