HISTORY MAKERS: WOMEN'S LACROSSE CAPTURES HPU'S FIRST NCAA TOURNAMENT VICTORY.

• Position: INSPIRING ENVIRONMENT: #SQUADGOALS

In sports, many times the first occurrence of an event is the toughest to achieve, but once that occasion has happened, the floodgates open up.

This has been the case in the High Point University athletic department. Once the men's cross country team captured the 2002 Big South Championship, the first conference title in the school's Division I history, the HPU athletic department has won 32 additional conference regular season and tournament championships. That's an average of two each year, and 11 in the last three school years.

With all the success at the conference level--including 11 of HPU's 16 programs finishing in the top three in the conference standings in 2016-17--one major occurrence had yet to happen--an NCAA Division I Tournament victory.

But that hurdle has now been cleared.

On May 7 in College Park, Maryland, the HPU women's lacrosse team defeated No. 18 Towson, 21-15, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to earn that breakthrough for the athletic department.

"I was a little surprised that a team hadn't done it before us because High Point has been successful at many sports, but it is truly an honor," HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell said.

"It means a lot to be able to represent High Point University on a national level like that," co-captain Samantha Brown,'17, said.

"Winning the Big South championship is an expectation for us, but to come out in the NCAA Tournament and pull an upset on a top-20 team is not something anyone expected High Point to do. I think that is the best feeling; doing the unexpected. We were able to show what High Point University athletics is capable of at a national level, and I'm so proud of that."

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-2 lead a little over halfway into the first half, but High Point's offense started clicking and the Panthers went on an 11-0 run over the next 20 minutes. Towson pulled within two at 14-12, but HPU went on another 5-0 run to put the game away in front of a pro-High Point crowd.

"We had tremendous support," Boswell said. "A lot of alumni showed up for the Towson game and stayed for the weekend. So much pride was shown for our university, our athletic department and especially the current team. It was really exciting to be a part of."

The NCAA First-Round contest looked fairly similar to High Point's season overall.

After starting the season with three losses to eventual NCAA Tournament squads (North Carolina, Elon and James Madison) the Panthers secured a school-record 16...