WINCHESTER, Va. – The 20th-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team won its seventh straight contest, registering a 19-4 road victory at Shenandoah on Wednesday evening.
 
The Generals' win sealed the top overall seed for the ODAC tournament for the fifth year in a row and improved the W&L record to 11-5 overall and 9-0 in conference play.
 
The Blue & White removed all suspense from the game early on, surging out to a 10-1 lead midway through the second quarter.  The scoring started just 13 seconds into the game after junior midfielder Matt Gallagher (Lynchburg, Va. / E.C. Glass) won the opening faceoff.  Junior attackman Hudson Pokorny (Darien, Conn. / Darien) fed sophomore attackman Alex Brown (Norwalk, Conn. / Taft School), who beat Shenandoah sophomore goalkeeper Mark Isabelle for the opening goal.  Four different Generals scored one goal each and W&L carried a 5-0 lead into the second quarter.
 
Senior attackman Taylor Witherell (Wilmington, Del. / Salesianum) scored man-up off a feed from sophomore attackman Michael Ott (Savannah, Ga. / St. John's Prep) at the 14:09 mark of the second quarter to make it 6-0, before the Hornets (9-8, 4-6) tallied their first score at the 12:01 mark.  There would be no SU rally, however, as W&L scored three times in the span of 38 seconds to push out to a 10-1 lead with 8:29 left in the first half.
 
After the Hornets scored two straight late in the first half, W&L tacked on seven unanswered goals to push out to a 17-3 lead before emptying the bench for the final period.
 
The Generals posted 65 shots as opposed to just 28 for the Hornets.  W&L also won the ground ball battle, 50-16, and seized 22-of-26 faceoffs in the game.
 
Witherell led the W&L offense with four goals and one assist, while Pokorny recorded one goal and three assists.  Brown and senior midfielder Braden Rhone (Dallas, Texas / Episcopal) chipped in two goals and one assist each, and Ott added one goal and assisted on two others.  Gallagher won 14-of-17 faceoffs and senior defenseman George Rovegno (Duxbury, Mass. / Duxbury) spearheaded the defensive effort with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Senior goalkeeper Nick Spagnoletti (Madison, N.J. / Madison) played the first 52:15 in goal and stopped nine shots with four goals allowed.  Junior Warren Seeds (Atlanta, Ga. / Westminster) saw action for the final 7:45, making one save.
 
Senior attackman Zachary Heiderman booked one goal and two assists to pace the Hornets' offense.  Junior midfielder Austin Sydnor contributed one goal and one assist, while Isabelle and senior Isaac Graves combined to make 22 saves in goal.
 
Washington and Lee will close out its regular season on Saturday when it hosts Virginia Wesleyan for a 1 pm game.