ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. -- The Washington and Lee men's soccer team opened its 2003 campaign, defeating N.C. Wesleyan 2-1 in overtime on Saturday.

The Generals (1-0) were led by senior Jake Stoehr (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights), who scored a penalty kick and assisted on the golden goal in overtime.

With the scored locked at 1-1 in the first overtime period, Stoehr fed junior Brian Pirkle (Lexington, Va./Woodberry Forest) for the gamewinning goal. Pirkle beat opposing keeper Jeff Johnson at the 87:38 mark to give the Generals the victory.

N.C.Wesleyan (2-5) overcame an early 1-0 deficit when Carlos Gomez beat Generals goalie Michael Stanton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Olympia) to send the match into extra minutes.

Stanton logged two saves across 45 minutes and overtime while fellow General Christopher Carlson (Santa Monica, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) made two stops during his 45 minutes between the pipes. Johnson made a pair of saves for N.C. Wesleyan.

Washington and Lee returns to action Tuesday, September 16 when the Generals travel to Ferrum. Game time is 4:00 p.m.

-- GENERALS --

GOALS
W&L -Jacob Stoehr, Brian Pirkle
NC-W - Carlos Gomez

ASSISTS
W&L - Jacob Stoehr
NC-W - Jon Dyer, Drew Martin

GOALKEEPERS
Michael Stanton (W&L) 45:00, 1GA, 2 saves
Christopher Carlson (W&L) 45:00, 0 GA, 2 saves
Jeff Johnson (NC-W) 90:00, 2 GA, 2 saves

TEAM STATS
W&L - 9 shot, 3 corner kicks, 4 saves, 8 fouls (Ryan Light, Scot Pittman, Yellow Card)
NC-W- 14 shots, 6 corner kicks, 2 save, 14 fouls (Jon Dyer, Yellow Card)