HPU claims fourth straight women's lacrosse title

May 4—HIGH POINT — The High Point University women's lacrosse team won its fourth consecutive Big South Championship on Sunday with a 20-7 victory over Radford University in the title game at Vert Stadium.

Not only is this HPU's fourth tournament title in a row, it is also the Panthers' fourth straight year winning both the tournament and the regular season.

High Point won the championship in record-setting fashion as the 20 goals are the most any team has scored in a Big South title game. After setting the program record for most goals in a single season in the semifinal victory over Winthrop on Friday, Abby Hormes added to her total with six in the championship game — a Big South record for goals scored in a championship contest.

Hormes now has 75 goals on the year, the third-most in a single season in Big South history.

Kaely Kyle and Rachel Foster scored three goals each. Emma Genovese and Katie Hormes had two. Mena Loescher, Brielle Prouty, Nicole Pugh and Kay Rosselli added one each.

The Panthers also matched the Big South record for assists and points in a championship game as 13 of the 20 goals had helpers attached for a total of 33 points, two more than HPU had in the 2017 victory over Campbell.

Foster dished three assists. Emma Genovese, Kylie Holthaus and Julia Dicastro had two. Loescher, Prouty, Kyle and Abby Hormes contributed one each.

High Point also corralled 22 ground balls in the contest, led by three each from Brielle Prouty and Emma Genovese, to set a new benchmark for ground balls in a championship game, breaking the Panthers' old record by two.

Leading 9-4 at the half, the Panthers (10-7) outscored the Highlanders 11-3 in the second. Radford drops to 4-2.

HPU also finished with an 18-11 advantage in draw controls.

High Point will find out where it is headed for the 2021 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament First Round in the selection show next Sunday (May 9). The top three teams in the field of 29 receive first-round byes with the remaining 26 battling it out in the first round on May 14 at campus sites to be announced during the selection show.

HPU EARNS SHARE OF SOCON TITLEHIGH POINT — The High Point University men's lacrosse team defeated Jacksonville 16-11 on Saturday afternoon, as seven Panthers scored in the win. Brayden Mayea was again the team's leading scorer with five goals and Hunter Vines and Kevin Rogers each ended the day with hat tricks.

Asher Nolting led the Panthers in assists with three and Vines added two.

The Panthers (5-5) improved to 4-1 in the Southern Conference and earned a share of the conference regular-season title when Richmond lost to Air Force. Jacksonville drops to 7-6. 4-2.

The teams meet again Wednesday in the semifinals of the conference tournament in Richmond. HPU is the No. 2 seed with Jacksonville slotted as the No. 3.

HPU BASEBALL EARNS SPLIT

ROCK HILL, S.C. — After nearly a combined eight hours of play on Saturday (May 1), the High Point University baseball team came away with a split in a doubleheader at Winthrop University. HPU lost the first game on a walk-off homer in 10 innings, 11-10, before rebounding with an offensive explosion in game two with a 19-15 victory.

Lyttle bookended the day on the mound for the Panthers, starting on the bump in the first game of the day and going just two innings before entering in relief in the second game to get the final 10 outs for his first save of the season. Lyttle recorded 10 strikeouts in the 10 outs (two of the strikeouts reached on a wild pitch and an error) to become the first Panther with 10 strikeouts in an outing since Harrison Smith recorded 11 punchouts against Longwood in 2019.

Three different Panthers tallied four hits over the two games, and two players ended the day with five RBIs. Cole Singsank was the only one in both categories as he had three hits and four RBIs in game one, followed by one hit and one run driven in for the second game. Brady Pearre and Peyton Carr were the other two with four hits as Pearre had his second four-hit performance of the season in game two while Carr added three hits, including one double, in the game as well.

Travis Holt was the other Panther with five RBIs on the day and drove in all five in the second game. Adam Stuart also had a big game in the RBI department in the second game with four runs driven in for his second four-RBI game this season.

Holt and Pearre also each legged out a triple in the nightcap.

BASEBALL PLAYERS OF WEEK

CHARLOTTE — High Point's Teddy Merritt is the Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played April 26-May 2, the conference announced Monday. In addition, HPU's Grey Lyttle and Upstate's Kevin Davis were selected the Co-Relief Pitcher of the Week,

Merritt tossed a complete game 5-hitter at Winthrop. In just his third start of the year, he allowed two unearned runs, walked two batters and struck out five in earning his first decision of the season. Merritt's complete game was the first by a Panther since the 2019 Big South Baseball Championship tournament.

Lyttle earned the save in the 19-15, series-clinching victory over Winthrop on Saturday afternoon. He entered the contest to get the final out of the sixth inning, and proceeded to hold Winthrop hitless the remaining three frames with just two walks surrendered while striking out 10 of the 14 batters he faced.

MAYEA HONORED

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — High Point attackman Brayden Mayea was named the Southern Conference men's lacrosse offensive player of the week, respectively, for all games April 27 to May 2. The awards are selected by the league office and are the final ones of the season.

Mayea scored five goals in Saturday's 16-11 win over Jacksonville, which clinched the Panthers a share of the regular-season SoCon title and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SoCon Men's Lacrosse Championship.

LOCAL GOLF

HIGH POINT — Matt Wilson and Greg Conrad won the "Shootout" in the 2021 Tom Dawson Men's Member-Member Tournament on Sunday at Willow Creek to be crowned the Overall Member-Member Champion.

Matt and Greg won the "Shootout" on the 18th hole in the alternate shot format with a par 4 over the team of Scott Dunbar and Dave Rode.

The format was five nine-hole matches played within four flights, with the flight winners and a winner of a playoff competing in the shootout.

Flight winners were Marc DeLille an Wes Keever, Conrad and Wilson, Jordan Reece and Kenny Stevens and Sean Cowan and Dan Delvecchio. Dunbar and Rode won the shootout for flight runners-up.

Brain Casey, Sam Magill, Wes Keever and Andy Bills were closest to the hole winners.