Every season, coach Lyndsey Boswell is looking to stamp a legacy. From nascent beginnings, her High Point Panthers (4-2) continue to make strides to being a force at the Division I level.
High Point has checked off the requisite boxes necessary to represent its success: a pair of Big South regular season titles (2014, 2017), three Big South Tournament wins and subsequent NCAA Tournament appearances (2013, 2014, 2017) and its first NCAA Tournament win (2017 vs. Towson).
Another box was checked off last Wednesday – a signature win over a perennially successful major conference foe.
High Point beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 13-7, for its third straight victory heading into this Wednesday’s contest at Old Dominion.
“Our team was very prepared,” Boswell said. “We have a lot of experience on the field. We made sure in a moment like that after halftime, and even leading into the game, to make sure [the coaches] were giving confidence to every player touching the field.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Panthers knocked off the Irish, however. High Point has seemingly been poised for an upset blow most of the season, hanging tough with North Carolina in a 14-10 loss on Feb. 16 before falling by just two goals eight days later to James Madison, 13-11.
“We were able to compete with [North Carolina] like we haven’t before,” Boswell said. “I think that belief helped. We beat Towson last year, and things have been coming together for our program. I think those tight games, even though they didn’t result in a win, had us believe that we could compete with anyone. Notre Dame came at the right time for us.”
The turning point in capturing that belief was a seesaw battle at Elon on March 1. The Panthers’ Abby Hormes forced overtime with 12 seconds remaining in regulation before senior co-captain Erica Perrotta slotted home the winner less than a minute later for the 14-13 victory.
“I think the Elon game could have gone either way,” said Boswell. “Elon is a good team. They’re very well coached. I have lots of respect for the new programs, like Elon, and what they’ve been able to do. Coming up with that win was probably a pretty key moment going into Notre Dame.”
The Panthers rode that momentum to a dominating 20-9 win at Marist nine days later, setting the table for Notre Dame’s visit to High Point’s Vert Stadium.
The Panthers broke a 6-6 deadlock with 22 minutes to go by scoring six straight goals from five different players over a 14-minute span for an insurmountable cushion.
While a player like Perrotta stands out on the stat sheet for her scoring and ball security, what Boswell enjoys the most is her unselfishness.
“She’s a standout player for sure,” Boswell said. “But the thing that makes her so special is her selfless play. It’s very much who she is as a player and as a person. She’s no one to steal attention. She’s one to give it. I think her best friends would say the same.”
Perrotta, who notched a hat trick in the win over Notre Dame, currently leads the team in points (25), ground balls (14) and caused turnovers (16). Much of her success comes from her fellow attacking teammates, one of which is the team’s leading goal scorer (Darla Poulin, 18) and leading distributor (Brooke Stevens, 17 assists).
“[Brooke’s] vision is definitely one of her strengths,” said Boswell. “She’s playing a little out of position, but she’s the same kind of person as Erica – a captain who doesn’t care about credit. She just cares that the team is successful. Her biggest characteristic is her composure. She doesn’t get rattled easy.”
As for Poulin, she lights the lamp plenty, but it’s the plays that go unnoticed by most that get her coach’s attention.
“She does a lot of the dirty work that we require on the attacking end,” Boswell said. “She has a different role every game. ... She’s willing and she’s able to do what the team needs. Because she’s so willing [to help], it puts her in a position to score a lot.”
Boswell was sure to note that her team’s success starts in the back with the four low defenders, whose work gives the midfielders the belief that they can defend and score. Defensive midfielder Erin Ilchuk was given credit for her two-way play while the dynamic draw unit of Samantha Herman and Ashley Britton have combined for 43 of the team’s 83 controls this season.
So does the win over Notre Dame change anything for High Point in terms of expectations? The entire Big South Conference slate remains as well as another marquee ACC opponent, Duke, on April 9.
“I would like to think the next step is to go deeper into the [NCAA] Tournament,” Boswell said. “Our focus stays getting better every day. We have a lot of lacrosse left to play.”
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Penn’s Roll Continues
Penn (7-0) is off to its best start since 2009 (13-0) with a 15-11 win at Duke. The Quakers secured their first victory over the Blue Devils in Durham, N.C., led by freshman Zoe Belodeau’s five goals. Alex Condon’s four goals crested her over the 100-goal career mark.
Wolverines Top Buckeyes Again
For the second straight season, Michigan downed rival Ohio State, capturing a hard-fought 9-7 win on Saturday. Michigan (4-5) hosted its first Mental Health Awareness Game (#BreaktheStigma), providing resources to fans on the concourse, wearing bright green shooting shirts during warmups and showing a series of public service announcements on the video board.
Stony Brook’s Record Watches
Stony Brook’s Courtney Murphy is closing in on the NCAA all-time goal scoring record. She netted a pair of strikes against Towson in a 13-8 win. She has 272 and is just 18 shy of the record set by Temple’s Gail Cummings (289).
Murphy’s teammate, Kyle Olhmiller poured in seven goals in the win over Towson. She is 60 points short of the NCAA career record (Maryland’s Jen Adams, 445) and 34 assists shy of breaking that career record (Northwestern’s Hannah Nielsen, 224).
Princeton Tops Penn State
Princeton (4-2) was able to overcome a slow start and hold off a late Penn State (6-4) rally in a 13-12 victory. Kyle Sears and Elizabeth George each scored three times for Princeton to hand Penn State its third one-goal loss of the season. Tiger goalie Sam Fish made 11 saves in reserve, including nine in the second half during Princeton’s comeback.
Unbeaten Watch
Just four teams remain unbeaten and all of them appear in this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse rankings. Wednesday has two of the unbeatens against formidable foes in Virginia (hosting James Madison) and Maryland (at Penn).
No. 1 Stony Brook (7-0)
No. 2 James Madison (8-0)
No. 4 Boston College (10-0)
No. 7 Penn (7-0)
MID-WEEK GAMES TO WATCH
There is no shortage of quality mid-week games on tap: two on Tuesday and four on Wednesday.
TUESDAY, MARCH 20
No. 4 Boston College at Yale, 1 p.m.
The undefeated Eagles head to Yale’s Reese Stadium in search of its 11th straight win to open the season. Expect the goals to fly. BC boasts the nation’s leading point-scorer in Sam Apuzzo (66) and has scored at least 13 goals in every game. Yale (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) has won its first two Ivy League games since 2002 after dropping 19 goals against Brown on Saturday.
No. 10 Syracuse at Cornell, 4:30 p.m.
The Big Red (4-2, 1-1 Ivy) roll into tonight’s game with momentum following an 11-10 double overtime win over UMass. Syracuse (5-2, 0-1 ACC) leads the all-time series 16-5 and has won each contest since 2006.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21
No. 14 Towson at No. 5 Florida, 6:30 p.m.
Quick turnarounds face both Florida (6-2) and Towson (5-2) in a game that could have seeding implications come May. The Gators scraped by Navy in comeback fashion last week before holding off a Vanderbilt run on Sunday, while Stony Brook was too much for the Tigers this past weekend.
No. 2 James Madison at No. 9 Virginia, 7 p.m.
JMU has arguably the toughest week of any team in the nation, first traveling to Virginia on Wednesday before playing at Maryland on Saturday. If the Dukes are still undefeated come Sunday, do they have claim to being the top team in the country? Virginia bounced back after its tough losses to UNC and Loyola to drop Notre Dame by seven on St. Patrick’s Day.
No. 4 Maryland at No. 7 Penn, 7 p.m.
In what might turn out to be the best game of the week, undefeated Penn (7-0, 1-0 Ivy) hosts Maryland (6-1, 1-0 Big Ten). The Terps have cruised after their overtime loss at North Carolina on Feb. 24, while Penn’s momentum earned a four-goal win at Duke on Saturday. Maryland is 24-2 all-time against the Quakers.
No. 8 Loyola at Georgetown, 7 p.m.
Few teams are as battle-tested as the Greyhounds. Five of their seven games have been decided by fewer than four goals and they’re on a five-game winning streak that includes victories over Penn State, Towson, Princeton and Virginia. Georgetown is looking for another non-conference win to boost its NCAA Tournament resume, with just a lone win against Johns Hopkins as its highlight.