The Panthers proved to stalk their prey first half and attack second half, as they broke away from the Blue Hens in the third quarter of Sunday’s season-opening matchup to win 15-10.
Both teams scored the same for the first two quarters: 3 goals in the first and 4 in the second. In the third period, Delaware was only able to find the back of the cage one time compared to High Point’s 4 more. Then in the final period, Delaware could only answer 2 of the Panthers’ 4 MORE goals.
If I can find three things that separated High Point from Delaware in yesterday’s game, I’d have to point out Dan Lomas and the High Point effort towards ground balls, and face-offs.
Dan Lomas seemed to be quiet for the first half of the game only scoring once in the second quarter. However, he broke free in the third quarter and scored 3 of HPU’s 4 goals that period. The defense just couldn’t find a way to stop him. Lomas even scored again in the fourth quarter and was paralleled in goals only by teammate Matt Thistle who also had 5 goals on the day.
The Panther win was a team effort still and included goals from Cole Carns (3), Michael LeClair (1) and Brad James (1).
Speaking of team efforts, the Panthers won the game on ground ball recoveries because Delaware almost paralleled the statistics of High Point in every area except for ground balls:
Shots: HPU – 40, Delaware – 39
Saves: HPU – 13, Delaware – 11
Clears: HPU – 11-12, Delaware – 12-15
Shots on Goal: HPU – 26, Delaware – 23
Extra Man: HPU – 2-7, Delaware – 2-8
Ground Balls: HPU – 30, Delaware – 19
Face Offs: HPU – 18, Delaware – 10
Ground balls win games, and I truly believe that because High Point recovered those 11 more than Delaware, they had more offensive opportunities result.
And because High Point won 8 more face-offs, they had eight more momentum boosters then Delaware.
Quality effort by both teams. High Point will go on to face Duke this Saturday at home, and the Blue Hens hit the chalk board before seeing Bucknell at home in Newark, DE.
