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.”