Duke ends HPU's lacrosse season
May 18—CHAPEL HILL — High Point University managed to stay within striking distance of Duke on Sunday.
Down four goals before the late arrivers in a crowd of 1,127 had filed into Dorrance Field, the Panthers remained relatively close and lost 16-10 to the No. 2-seed Blue Devils in the opening round of the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament.
That was a much better outcome for HPU than the 27-8 crushing suffered at the hand of Duke in the regular season.
The Panthers had won seven of eight since then and upset Richmond in the Southern Conference tournament final to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA playoff. Duke proved to be another matter.
HPU couldn't stop All-American attacker Michael Sowers from scoring or setting up someone else to score in the first half. The Panthers thoroughly lost the faceoff battle 20-7, twice to the point that the Blue Devils scooped up the ball and went straight down the field for fastbreak goals, and had trouble getting the ball past goalie Mike Adler, who had 14 saves. HPU also lost the ground ball battle 37-21.
The Panthers end the season 8-6-0. Duke improves to 13-2 and faces Loyola of Maryland in the round of eight on Sunday at Notre Dame.
"In 21 years of coaching I don't know if I've seen a team that complete from top to bottom, offensively and defensively, the guys they can throw at you at the faceoff-X and the goalie was fantastic today," HPU head coach Jon Tropey said of Duke. "They are a well-coached team and about as opportunistic of a team that I've coached against as well."
Jack Vanoverbeke, Brayden Mayea and Kevin Rogers each scored two goals for the Panthers. Koby Russell, Asher Nolting, Tyler Stinson and Colin Clothier added one each.
Sowers posted all four of his goals and all of four of his assists as the Blue Devils built a 9-4 lead with 1:34 left in the first half.
HPU changed its defense to stop Sowers in the second half. Duke adjusted and seven Blue Devils produced the last 10 goals.
"To go into the locker room and (Sowers) having four, and four was not the position we wanted to be in," Tropey said. "He's a generational talent and when he gets above the three (goals) and three (assists), you are putting a lot of pressure on your defense. ... I had a meeting with the other coaches, and Coach (Justin) Tuma, he's a great defensive coordinator, said 'Let's shut him off.' So that's what we did. They had answers for that and it opened a couple of other guys up. They utilized him well in the shut off game."
Torpey said some of his seniors will take advantage of a NCAA ruling that grants an extra year of eligibility because of the COVID pandemic.
"A group of our seniors are coming back, so it's a blessing to get those guys back another year," Torpey said. "We think a couple more might come back as well. ... To know we are going to have a core of fifth-year guys leading the charge, I feel great. I haven't thought about 2022, I haven't done much scheduling for 2022. But know some of those guys are coming back, the future is bright for sure."
@HPEgreer — gsmith@hpenews.com — 336-888-3519
@HPEgreer — gsmith@hpenews.com — 336-888-3519
