The Elon University women’s lacrosse team took a hard loss to reigning Big South champion High Point University today, March 30, falling to the Panthers 11-4. Elon’s strong defense effort wasn’t enough to hold off the Panthers attack and the offense couldn’t generate enough successful opportunities against the experienced Panthers defense.
Three players for the Phoenix put up points. Anna Vitton scored two goals and Olivia Fernandez and Sydney Hesselbein each had one. Elon won 8-of-17 draw controls and tallied 15 shots to High Point’s 30.
A strong defensive effort by the Phoenix was led by Rachel Ramirez, who posted 60 minutes between the pipes and tallied 14 saves on the day. Ramirez kept Elon in the game, coming up with many big saves throughout the match. Elon went 11-for-16 on clear attempts, picked up 10 ground balls, and caused seven turnovers.
Elon was strong out of the gate, jumping out to a 2-0 lead to start the game. At 22:04, Vitton netted the first goal of the game on free position shot off a High Point foul. And just 30 seconds later, Fernandez scored the second.
Elon maintained possession, stunted the High Point attack and kept the lead for the majority of the first half, until High Point attack Kendyl Gardner scored with 10 minutes remaining, sparking a 4-0 Panthers run.
Hesselbein cut the lead to one for Elon, scoring a goal with under a minute left to play to make it a 4-3 game at the half.
The Panthers almost made it a two-goal lead heading into the half with goal in the final seconds, but it was ruled no goal because of an illegal stick. A new rule was added this year that requires the official to check the stick after every goal that’s scored, which took back two of High Point’s goals in the game.
High Point came out of the half ready to attack, as Kendyl Gardner scored a goal at 25:59 on a one-on-one with Ramirez.
But Elon refused to relent, and at 23:39 cut the lead to 5-4 as Vitton netted her 23rd goal of the season, which keeps her in the top spot for scoring on Elon’s roster.
There was a lot of fluctuation in the lead, but never more than two goal deficit for most of the game. Unfortunately for Elon, the very experienced and aggressive Panthers defense was hard to break as it allowed only 12 shots on goal.
Elon played a tight game throughout the first half and for a good portion of the second, but the team couldn’t hold off High Point’s steady transition game and efficient offense that pulled away late in the game, extending the lead to seven.
With 22:37 remaining, High Point’s Jasmine Jordan set the 6-0 run in motion with a goal that sparked the offense and put the Panthers up two. At 13:16, Emily Meir extended the lead to three. An Elon penalty put the Panthers up a player with just under 11 minutes to play and the High Point attack took full advantage. scoring another goal to extend the lead to five. Two more goals by two different High Point players kept the Panthers on top.
The Phoenix will return home to resume Atlantic Sun conference play in two weeks when it faces the owls of Kennesaw State University. The game is set for Sunday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m. in Rhodes Stadium.