FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood lacrosse came out strong early, and a varied attack saw five different Lancers (0-9, 0-2 Big South) score a goal in the first 16 minutes of game action.
 
However, High Point's defense tightened up, and the Panther (7-4, 3-0 Big South) offense kept pushing forward to pull away 21-6.
 
Ellie Rumbaugh led Longwood's multi-faceted attack with two goals.
 
However, Bella Germani powered home five goals for High Point, Esprit Cha added four, and Allie Connally added three goals and four assists to key the Panther attack.
 
SCORING:
               1             2             3             4             FINAL
HPU       6             5             6             4             21
LWU      4             1             0             1             6
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The beginning of the game featured plenty of back-and-forth lacrosse as the two teams streamed up and down the field.
 
While Germani was a tough cover in the first quarter, scoring a hat trick, Longwood had the answer early.
 
After Germani put HPU up 1-0, Miranda Helfenbein forced a turnover and immediately scored it herself to tie the game at one.
 
Bailey Stratton then equalized the game at two, and Mikaela Cook did the same thing to make it 3-3. Anastasia Lajoie assisted on both goals.
 
Jordan Fitzgerald gave Longwood its first lead of the contest with 6:05 to go in the quarter, but HPU ended the quarter on a 3-0 run between two goals from Germani and one from Cha.
 
Rumbaugh punched home her first goal less than 30 seconds into the second quarter to cut it to 6-5 after a nice feed from Alexandra Hirst, but that was as close as Longwood would get the rest of the way.
 
High Point's defense clamped down and held Longwood scoreless for the remainder of the half and the third quarter as well.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Cybella Smith, with five saves in the second quarter and 11 for the game, kept Longwood hanging around in the first half, but HPU's defense proved to be too tough a nut to crack. That gave space for the HPU offense continued its run in the third quarter to push the lead to double figures.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"Classic tale of two halves," said Longwood Head Coach Dwayne Hicks. "We just ran out of gas. They are a talented and fast team. We didn't contain them, and they scored. They're a good team. But we learned we can play with a good team. We just have to play a whole game. That will be our goal on Saturday against Wofford."
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood returns to action when it hosts Wofford at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The match will air on ESPN+.
 
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