High Point MLAX hosts No. 12 Richmond on Saturday at noon

When: Saturday, March 25 at 12 p.m.
Where: Vert Stadium | High Point, N.C.
Who: High Point (3-5, 0-0) | No. 12 Richmond (7-1, 2-0)
All-Time Series: Richmond leads 4-2
Last Meeting: Richmond won 17-6 at Richmond, Va. on May 5, 2016
Live Stream: Big South Network
Live Stats: HighPointPanthers.Com
Tickets: HighPointPanthers.Com

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team opens its home Southern Conference schedule against No. 12 Richmond in Vert Stadium on Saturday at noon.

The Panthers (3-5, 1-0) kicked off their SoCon slate with an 11-5 victory at VMI on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Spiders (7-1, 2-0) are coming off a week that saw them earn road wins at North Carolina and Jacksonville.

Quick Hitters:
• HPU snapped a three-game losing streak with an 11-5 victory at VMI on Friday, March 17 in Lexington, Va. Meanwhile, the squad will be looking for its first winning streak of the season on Saturday.
• Sophomore Tim Troutner Jr. is fourth in the nation in saves per game after racking up 11 against the Keydets. The goalie has reached double figures in saves in seven of the eight games this season.
• Troutner also paces the Purple & White in ground balls (31) and caused turnovers (nine) in 2017.
• Senior Sean Harrison scored two goals in HPU’s win at VMI. Harrison, and junior Jason Ashwood, are the only two Panthers to tally at least one point in all eight of the team’s contests.
• Junior Connor Robinson, who scored two goals at VMI, has netted multiple goals in four of the team’s last five contests and leads HPU with 10 in 2017.
• Freshman Dalton Sulver is coming off a one-goal, one-assist performance against the Keydets to post the first multi-point outing of his collegiate career. He’s also scored a goal in each of the last two games.
• The Panthers are 3-0 in their conference home-openers including last season’s 15-10 victory over Mercer on April 3, 2016.
• High Point is 8-2 all-time in home conference games and enters this weekend’s showdown carrying a five-game winning streak against SoCon foes in Vert Stadium. The last league opponent to leave the Triad with a victory was the Spiders in 2015.
• Saturday marks the fourth time a ranked opponent has visited Vert Stadium. In those games, HPU is 1-2 with a win over Towson in 2013, a setback to North Carolina in 2014 and a narrow loss to Duke in 2015.
• Richmond enters Saturday’s contest with nation’s No. 1 scoring defense allowing 5.63 goals per contest. The defense features goalie Benny Pugh who owns the top goals-against average in the nation and Brendan Hynes and Ryan Dennis who are both in the top-5 nationally in caused turnovers.
• In the preseason, Richmond was picked to place second after finishing as the runner-up in 2016. Similarly, the Purple & White were tabbed to repeat as third-place finishers.

Next Up:
The Purple & White return to the road for their next two contests visiting Mercer on Saturday, April 1 and Bellarmine on Saturday, April 8. The squad’s next home game comes on Saturday, April 15 at noon against Furman.