High Point drops 8-7 decision to Richmond in Atlantic Sun men’s lacrosse championship

HPU Athletic Communications, HighPointPanthers.com
HPU Athletic Communications, HighPointPanthers.com

MACON, GA. – It was a battle of young NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse programs that competed for the first-ever Atlantic Sun Men’s Lacrosse Championship at Mercer University Stadium on Saturday.

The second-year High Point Panthers came up short of winning the inaugural league title game, losing 8-7 to the Richmond Spiders, a team competing in its first full season.

The win provided the Spiders with an automatic qualifier spot in the upcoming 2014 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament.

Attackman Dan Lomas, the conference’s player of the year, led the Panthers with four goals and one assist and was named to the All-Tournament team along with goalkeeper Austin Geisler and Matt Thistle.

“Richmond is a really well coached team and they executed their game plan perfectly,” said High Point head coach Jon Torpey.

“They capitalized and we didn’t late in the game. I am sad for our amazing three seniors. They are leaving the program much better than they found it and I can’t thank them enough.”

High Point scored three straight goals to tie the game 6-6 in the fourth quarter as Lomas tied the game on a feed from Thistle with 11:10 left to play.

However, Richmond answered with back-to-back goals to hold a big enough cushion to win the game even as Thistle pulled the Panthers to within one, trailing 8-7, with 2:39 to play.

High Point finished its second season with a 9-7 overall record and a 4-1 mark in Atlantic Sun league play.