(Photo by Louis Murray)

ATLANTA – After posting a massive 25-point weekend against a trio of ranked teams, Grand Valley State senior Sam Highland earned Dominant Performance of the Week presented by Warrior for the period ending March 8.

Competing at Music City Judgement, the Hartland, Mich., product started the three-game venture by dropping a hat trick and an assist on No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday.

Two days later, Highland blew the doors off No. 15 Missouri State by scoring five goals and handing out an astounding 10 assists in a 24-4 victory.

Highland capped off the weekend with another six-point effort (2g, 4a) against No. 21 Rhode Island in a 13-5 Lakers’ win.

For the week, the senior attackman amassed 10 goals and 15 helpers.

“Sam has an ability to see the field and process what the defenses are doing,” said Grand Valley State coach Tim Murray. “We count on his decision-making and his ability to facilitate offense, whether that be distributing the ball or recognizing the opportunity to score. As one of only four seniors on our team, we rely on Sam’s big-game experience on the offensive end.

“Sam’s performance against Missouri State was incredible. He scored the first two goals of the game for us, and when the defense started to show/slide early to him, he was able to recognize that and make the appropriate play for our offense.

“He also does a great job with the oft-overlooked aspects of playing attack. He had six caused turnovers while riding over the three weekend games we had in Nashville, which created odd-man opportunities for our team.”

For his efforts in earning the Dominant Performance of the Week presented by Warrior, Highland will receive a new Warrior Burn 2 – a $90 value. Warrior is a proud supporter of the MCLA.

Warrior Honor Roll

Henry Halfaker, Jr. – Northern Arizona
The long-stick midfielder helped shut down a powerful Claremont offense, causing three turnovers and gobbling up eight ground balls.

Tommy Kraus, Sr. – St. John’s
In ranked wins over No. 14 Montana State and No. 13 Utah State, Kraus racked up a combined four goals, six assists and three ground balls.

Henry Layman, Fr. – Georgia Southern
Layman struck for five goals and an assist in the Eagles upset of No. 24 North Florida in overtime. Added a goal and an assist in a loss to Louisiana.

Hunter Rowe, Fr. – MSU Denver
The faceoff specialist went 24-for-25 (96.0%) at the dot against UT-San Antonio, giving the Roadrunners enough possessions to pull out a 12-11 victory.