• Junior Michael LeClair led the HPU offense with five points (2g, 3a) to score in his 38th straigh contest.
• Freshman Tim Troutner Jr. equaled a career high with 16 saves to move to 5-3
• Freshman Alex Woodall dominated at the face-off ‘X’ going 16-23 (.696) while grabbing six ground balls.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team used a 5-0 run over the last eight minutes to earn a 13-7 victory over Bellarmine on Saturday in Vert Stadium.
The Panthers (6-5, 2-2) were clinging to a 7-6 lead early in the final period before Michael LeClair tallied his second goal – fifth point – of the day to kick off the decisive run. The Knights (4-7, 2-2) couldn’t answer the rest of the way as HPU cruised to the win.
“Bellarmine is an incredibly scrappy team and I have a lot of respect for their staff and their players,” head coach Jon Torpey said. “I give the credit to our staff. Coach Tracy did a great job getting the offense ready and coach Garling had a heavy hand in our defense and had our guys ready for what they were going to do. Then, coach Cassidy has done a fantastic job with our face-off guys and our wings. The staff had them prepared and the players provided the energy today.”
LeClair’s five-point performance – two goals and three assists – stretched his scoring streak to 38 games. Similarly, senior Matt Thistle led the team in goals with three while chipping in with an assist for an offense the featued 13 different point scorers.
Defensively, freshman Tim Troutner Jr. – the reigning SoCon Defensive Player of the Week – made 16 stops in goal to tie his season high. Meanwhile, redshirt-senior Richard Byrd provided two caused turnovers as senior Zack Price recorded four ground balls.
High Point dominated in the face-off circle as freshman Alex Woodall went 16-23 to post a career high in face-off wins to go with six ground balls. Redshirt-senior Adam Seal came off the wing to grab three ground balls while scoring his first goal of the year.
Senior Dan Lomas was the third Panther to score multiple points in the contest racking up two goals and an assist. The Burlington, Ontario native has scored a goal in all 11 games this season.
Meanwhile, senior Tyler Cook, junior Dallas Bridle, sophomore Peyton Garrett and freshman Jake Schleepy notched the other goals. Likewise, redshirt-senior Nick Bittner, junior Sean Harrison and sophomore T Moyer rounded out the point-scorers with assists.
On the day HPU earned a +8 margin (31-23) in ground balls, which led to a 40-35 edge in shots.
The Panthers dented the scoreboard first as Bittner found Cook for his first goal of the season just two minutes and twenty seconds into the contest. Just 90 seconds later, Schleppy scored off an assist from LeClair to make it 2-0 (11:26).
But the pace slowed for the rest of the period as Bellarmine pulled within one with 2:05 on the clock (2-1). Then the visitors evened the score at the 10:01 mark of the second quarter.
From there, LeClair assisted on goals by Thistle (5:55) and Bridle (3:29) as High Point regained a two-goal edge (4-2). However, the Knights mounted another run scoring two goals in the final 2:48 to knot the score at 4-all at the break.
After halftime Lomas sandwiched his two goals around a Bellermine tally to give the Panthers a 6-5 advantage (9:56, third). But the Knights tied the score at 6-6 six minutes later.
However, LeClair has the answer scoring off a Thistle assist (2:23) before Robinson notched an unassisted goal to make it 8-6 as the contest headed to the final frame.
Bellarmine opened the scoring in the fourth as Tucker Ciessau tallied his fourth point of the game with 10:04 to go. But the Panthers responded in a big way over the final 10 minutes.
LeClair kicked off the run by finishing off a beautifully executed transition opportunity. Eight seconds later, Seal scooped up the ensuing face-off and scored to make it 10-7 (7:49).
The run continued as Garrett scored at the 6:46 mark to stretch the lead to 11-7. Thistle then added two goals in the final five minutes to provide the 13-7 margin.
The Purple & White will wrap up their three-game homestand next Saturday at noon when Jacksonville pays a visit to the Triad.