High Point Downs Cincy for Program's First Win

from press release

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University women’s lacrosse team earned its first win in program history, beating Cincinnati 15-7 on Sunday at Vert Stadium. Freshman midfielder Sara Kuhlman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) scored five goals to lead HPU and Alexis Goldman (Winter Springs, Fla./Winter Springs (St. Andrews Presbyterian)) added four goals and two assists for the Panthers.

"We definitely came out harder than last week and were ready to get our first win and it paid off," said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. "We changed some things up during the week, had some different players in the starting lineup and switched some players from defense to midfield and we had a lot of speed all over the field. Lauren Hayes played great in goal. Alexis Goldman did a really good job directing draws and Sara Kuhlman did a great job one-versus-one and taking the ball to the cage."

High Point improved to 1-1 overall, while Cincinnati dropped to 1-2 overall.

Freshman Chelsea Thompson dished out three assists for HPU. Thompson and freshman defender Christie Dougherty (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) led High Point with five ground balls each and Dougherty also added a late goal. Attacker Grace Gaeng (Bel Air, Md./The John Carroll School (Maryland)) scored the final goal of the game to push her season total to six. The Panthers outshot Cincinnati 36-17 and also took the advantage on ground ball controls (30-16). Four Panthers had two draw controls a piece and Hayes made five saves.

Cincinnati was led by Kylie Ramsland and Marissa Pierson who scored two goals each and goalie Jennifer Walsh had 17 saves and four ground balls.

High Point got on the board first with on a goal by Heather Ziccarelli (Rochester, N.Y./Rush Henrietta (Monroe CC)). Freshman Alec Perry (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) scored again for the Panthers fifteen seconds later to give HPU the lead, 2-0, with 20:30 remaining in the first half and the Panthers led the rest of the way. Goldman scored her first goal of the season at the 15:52 mark and added one a few minutes later to push the Panthers lead to 5-1. Attacker Mackenzie Carroll (Arnold, Md./Severn) scored a late goal before the end of the half to give HPU a 7-4 advantage into intermission.

The Panthers pushed their lead to five (10-5), after Goldman scored with 17:01 remaining. Cincinnati cut HPU’s lead to 11-7 with 10:30 remaining, but High Point answered quickly with Dougherty going coast-to-coast and netting a score to make it 12-7. The Panthers added three goals in the final 6:10 of the game to put the game away for good.

High Point returns to action Sunday, Feb. 27, with their first road game when they travel to Navy in Annapolis, Md. The game will be played at noon.