Hawks beat Averett, claim first USA South regular-season title

DANVILLE, Va. – The Huntingdon men's lacrosse team downed Averett 16-2 on Saturday to finish unbeaten in regular-season conference play.

In their first season competing in the USA South Athletic Conference, the Hawks (14-2, 6-0 USA South) claimed the conference's first men's lacrosse regular-season title. This is the first season the USA South has sponsored men's lacrosse.

"We're excited to be the first regular-season champions in USA South history," Huntingdon head coach Andrew Carey said. "This has been an exciting season and I am proud of these guys for all that we have accomplished. But we still have more we want to accomplish. These players have worked hard and have been committed to doing what we've asked to get to this point. We have to continue to be committed to our goals.

"We have a tough test coming up with Greensboro in the conference tournament. This is not going to be an easy game. We won in double overtime last time and we have to be prepared for that same kind of challenge again this time."

Huntingdon will play Greensboro in the USA South Tournament semifinals on April 14 in LaGrange, Ga. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. (Central). In their first meeting this season, the Hawks beat Greensboro 5-4 in double overtime.

Against Averett, Huntingdon put the game away early, scoring the first 10 goals of the game.

Jackson Schrampfer led the Hawks with four goals and an assist and Kendrick Ballard added three goals and three assists. Bryce Coates finished with two goals and an assist and Miles Stading scored two goals.

Zach Barnhill and Caleb Bohrer each had one goal and two assists and Mac Puller had two assists and five ground balls. Austin Ohliger, Seth Howe and Carmen Fuentes each scored one goal and Will Syme finished with one assist. Adrian Harper recorded six ground balls and Tyler Keiser and Zach Christie each had two caused turnovers.

Sam Hitt was 15-for-18 on faceoffs and picked up seven ground balls. Hitt has won 218-of-311 faceoffs this season and has 70.1 faceoff winning percentage. He ranks first in Division III in faceoff wins and is in the top-10 for winning percentage.                                                      

Starting goalie Matt Murphy played one quarter and recorded three saves. Stephen Dan played the final three quarters and finished with nine saves and two goals allowed.

Records: Huntingdon (14-2, 6-0 USA South); Averett (0-10, 0-6 USA South)

Coming Up: Huntingdon will face Greensboro in the semifinals of the USA South Conference Tournament on April 14 in LaGrange, Ga. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. (Central).