HIGH POINT, N.C. – Kellen Pulera tallied his sixth multi-goal game of the season and Josh Rosa recorded his first career multi-goal contest, but High Point would pull away in the fourth quarter for an 18-7 win over the St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team Friday night.
High Point (7-5, 1-1 A-10) established control from the outset by winning the opening faceoff and scoring as Brayden Mayea, the A-10's leading scorer, deposited a goal just 14 seconds in. The Panthers struck again just five seconds later as Luca Accardo won the faceoff and did the work himself for a 2-0 goal that shell-shocked the Bonnies just 30 seconds into the contest.
The Panthers held the Bonnies off the scoreboard for the entire first quarter and led 5-0 before Pulera got the Bonnies on the board at the 12:47 mark of the second.
High Point led, 7-1, before a highlight reel goal from Rosa as he worked behind the net and fired an over-the-shoulder back hand goal for Bona's second score of the night. He would strike for his second tally off a feed from Anthony Cimino before halftime.
The Bonnies (1-8, 0-2) turned the tide by slowing High Point with a zone defense, and scored 45 seconds into the second half as another goal from Pulera brought Bona within 9-5.
St. Bonaventure had the momentum, but High Point goalie Christopher O'Grady made two nice saves to preserve the cushion for the Panthers and slow the Bonnies' run.
Nick Rizzo then got things rolling again for the hosts with his goal that started a 6-0 HPU run finishing the third and extending into the fourth quarter.
Kyle Pepper had a fourth quarter goal, as did Joey Paterno, but the Panthers would never be threatened down the stretch.
Mayea scored five goals, handed out four assists and posted nine points in a sterling effort for the Panthers. Rizzo and Jack Sawyer had hat tricks, too, with three goals apiece.
Zack Overend started and made six saves to earn the win in net for HPU and O'Grady made four second half saves.
Connor Robinson started in net and had four saves. Evan Gallo made four saves as well while Aidan Sheehan stopped two shots.
Next up, the Bonnies host UMass Saturday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m.
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