ROCK HILL, SC – Allie Yeager's goal with 2:11 remaining and Alaina Girani's save with five seconds on the clock propelled the Winthrop lacrosse team to a 14-13 senior day victory over the High Point Panthers Sunday afternoon, earning the Eagles the Big South regular season title and hosting rights to the upcoming conference tournament.
Winthrop completed the undefeated conference season at 8-0 with the victory and tied a program and conference record for wins with a 17-2 mark. High Point fell to 7-1 in the Big South with the loss and 11-5 overall.
With just over two minutes remaining, Abigail Blevins found Yeager in front of the net and Yeager buried the ball to give Winthrop a 14-13 lead. The Eagles won the ensuing draw and began to run time off the clock. As High Point's pressure mounted, the Panthers forced a Winthrop turnover and went the other way.
After a High Point timeout with 12 seconds remaining, the Panthers raced towards goal and Erica Perrotta got off a shot right in front of the net but Girani came up with a huge save. High Point picked up the ground ball and got another shot off but this one sailed high and they couldn't get another.
The other 58 minutes of the game were just as thrilling as the final two as the two sides went back and forth with six lead changes.
In a quick start to the game, the two teams traded goals in the opening 107 seconds. High Point went up 2-1 before Winthrop rattled off three straight to go up 4-2 with 14:34 on the clock. The Panthers fought back, scoring three of the next four goals to tie the game at 5-5 with 2:51 remaining in the half. Blevins scored her third of the half with 1:18 on the clock to put Winthrop up 6-5, a lead the Eagles took into the break.
Eagles Leave Field After Winning Big South Regular Season Title with 14-13 Victory over HPU
The Eagles started the second half strong as Yeager scored only 64 seconds in to put Winthrop up by two at 7-5. High Point came right back with two goals in the less than a minute to tie the contest at 7-7 with 25:37 left. Just over two minutes later Winthrop went back up 8-7 only to see High Point again score two quick goals, going up 9-8.
Winthrop responded well as Shannon Gallagher and Yeager both scored as the clock ticked towards 20 minutes left putting the Eagles back up 10-9. The Panthers then picked up some momentum, scoring three times in a span of 1:33 to take a 12-10 lead with 17:02 on the clock.
The Eagles took a timeout and came back strong, scoring three unanswered to go up 13-12 with 11:34 left in the contest. High Point was able to tie the game with 10:19 to play. The two teams then went back and forth for the next eight minutes with both trying to find the game-winner. The Eagles were finally able to find it from the stick of Yeager.
Yeager, Blevins and Danielle Ellis each tallied three goals in the victory while Katie Clark picked up five points on two goals and three assists. Gallagher was strong on the circle, grabbing five draw controls and three ground balls. Katherine Judge led the team with four ground balls and also picked up four draw controls.
The stat sheet showed how even these two teams were as Winthrop took 27 shots to High Point's 26. The Panthers edged the Eagles on ground balls 17-16 and Winthrop won the draw control battle 15-14. Goalie Alaina Girani finished with seven saves in the victory.
Winthrop will now use this next week to prepare for its quarterfinal contest on Saturday, April 30th against the Presbyterian Blue Hose. The contest will be at 7 p.m. at Eagle Field. The semifinals and championship will also be contested at Rock Hill on Thursday May 5 and Saturday May 7 respectively.
