Pride Hurt by Penalties in 18-9 Loss to Pfeiffer

March 21, 2026 | Lefko-Mills Field, Misenheimer, NC

There's a version of this game where Greensboro College hangs around. You could see it in the first quarter — the Pride scored first, matched Pfeiffer punch for punch, and walked into the second period knotted at 3-3 with real momentum. For about fifteen minutes, this looked like a game.

Then the penalties started piling up, and the whole thing came apart.

Pfeiffer University pulled away for an 18-9 victory on Saturday, and while the final score suggests a lopsided affair, the story is less about the Falcons being unstoppable and more about Greensboro handing them the keys. The Pride committed nine penalties on the afternoon, and Pfeiffer made them pay — converting 6 of 9 man-up opportunities into goals. That's a 66.7% conversion rate. At any level of lacrosse, that number is devastating. At this level, it's a death sentence.

A Competitive First Half Gave Way to a Pfeiffer Avalanche

Credit Greensboro for coming out with energy. The Pride actually out-shot Pfeiffer 20-11 in the first quarter, put nine shots on goal, and looked like a team that belonged on the same field. The 3-3 tie after one felt earned, not lucky.

But the cracks started showing in the second quarter. A slashing call on Colin Byrne at 13:54 gave Pfeiffer the extra man, and Tiger Hopkins buried it at 12:40 to tie the game at 4-4. That goal was the hinge point. Pfeiffer outscored the Pride 5-3 in the second period and took an 8-6 lead into the break — a lead that never felt in danger again.

The second half belonged entirely to the Falcons. Pfeiffer scored five in the third and five more in the fourth while holding Greensboro to a combined three goals over the final thirty minutes. Greensboro's shot volume cratered — just 6 attempts in the third quarter after putting up 20 in the first — and the Pride's offense went from competitive to invisible in a span of about twenty minutes.

The Penalty Problem

Let's be direct about this: Greensboro lost this game in the penalty box.

Nine penalties. Six man-up goals allowed. Four players — Riley Taff, Colin Byrne, Alex Mattoon, and Will Pailthorpe — were responsible for the infractions that led to those six extra-man scores, with Mattoon and Pailthorpe each getting flagged twice.

The sequence in the fourth quarter was particularly brutal. Mattoon drew an unsportsmanlike conduct call at 7:42. Hopkins scored at 6:43. Pailthorpe got called for holding at 5:46. Will Rivera scored at 5:35 — just eleven seconds of man-up time before the ball was in the back of the net. Then Pailthorpe took an illegal body check at 2:22, and Hopkins finished the scoring at 2:09. Three man-up goals in the final eight minutes of a game that was already slipping away.

Meanwhile, Greensboro went 1-for-7 on their own extra-man chances. When you give your opponent six power play goals and can only generate one yourself, you're staring at a five-goal swing from man up alone. In a nine-goal loss, the math speaks for itself.

Pfeiffer's Trio Was Too Much

Penalty trouble aside, Pfeiffer had the horses to run away with this one. Tiger Hopkins (5G, 1A), Trent Orr (5G, 1A), and Will Rivera (4G, 4A) combined for 14 goals and 6 assists — accounting for the vast majority of Pfeiffer's offense and all six man-up tallies between them.

Hopkins was clinical, burying three of his five goals on the man-advantage. Orr provided the second-half surge that turned a two-goal halftime lead into a rout. Rivera was the engine of the operation — his four assists made him the primary distributor, and his four goals proved he didn't need anyone's help finding the cage, either. When three players combine for 20 points and a two-thirds conversion rate on the power play, you're looking at an attack unit that punished every mistake Greensboro made.

Pfeiffer also dominated at the faceoff X, winning 18 of 29 draws. Lee Caldwell went 12-19 at the dot, giving the Falcons consistent first possession and helping them control the ground ball battle 44-32. When you're winning faceoffs at that clip, you're dictating tempo — and Pfeiffer dictated everything in the second half.

Pride Bright Spots

Even in a tough loss, there were individual performances worth acknowledging.

Braeden Mitchell had a thankless afternoon in the Greensboro cage but stood tall with 17 saves against 53 Pfeiffer shots. The volume he faced — particularly in the second half when Pfeiffer was firing at will — was relentless, and Mitchell was the reason this game didn't get even uglier. He's developing into a goalie the Pride can build around, and games like this, as painful as they are, are where that toughness gets forged.

Alex Mattoon led the offense with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points and picked up a team-high 9 shots. The talent is evident. But Mattoon also sat for two penalties that directly led to Pfeiffer man-up goals, including the unsportsmanlike conduct call in the fourth quarter. He's clearly one of Greensboro's most dynamic players — which is exactly why they need him on the field, not in the box.

Justin Barry (1G, 2A, 3 points) continued to show he can facilitate and finish, while Alex Speckin and Riley Taff each chipped in 2 goals. Quinton Solomon won 9 of his 22 faceoffs — not the ratio you want, but he was fighting uphill against a Pfeiffer unit that came in locked in. Seth Woods added a goal and was active with 8 shots and 3 ground balls off the bench.

Looking Ahead

Greensboro drops this one in conference play, and the road doesn't get easier. But if you're looking for a thread to pull, it's this: the Pride were competitive for a full half. The talent gap between these two teams is not nine goals wide. The gap was created by penalties, and penalties are fixable.

The coaching staff has to address the discipline issue, full stop. Nine penalties and a 1-for-7 man-up conversion rate isn't a bad day — it's a pattern that will lose you games against every opponent on the schedule. Clean that up, keep the special teams even, and this is a different game.

Mitchell will keep making saves. Mattoon and Barry will keep generating offense. The pieces are there. Greensboro just needs to stop beating themselves before they can start beating anyone else.

Final Score: Pfeiffer 18, Greensboro 9