SALISBURY, Md. – The Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team found its groove late with a 6-3 run over the final 22:44, but it was not enough to overcome Salisbury's strong play over the first two and a half quarters, as the second-ranked Sea Gulls downed the No. 9-ranked Generals, 12-9, in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday.
Trailing by a 9-3 score with 7:44 left in the third, in what was W&L's largest deficit of the game, senior
Hudson Pokorny (Darien, Conn. / Darien) scored off a feed from sophomore
Riley Albregts (Mountain Lakes, N.J. / Mountain Lakes) to jumpstart the offense. Pokorny's score was followed two and a half minutes later by a
Joey Allen (Berwyn, Pa. / Conestoga) goal, plus a
Hillis Burns (Louisville, Ky. / St. Xavier) score with 3:59 left in the third to bring the game back to 9-6.
Jack Dowd tallied SU's first goal in over nine minutes with just 19 seconds left before the fourth, but the Generals didn't flinch and scored the first two goals of the final quarter to bring the Salisbury lead down to 10-8. Junior
Alex Brown (Norwalk, Conn. / Taft School) had the first of the two goals, with Allen scoring on the second, and assists coming from senior
Boots Lackey (Alexandria, Va. / The Heights School) and Burns, respectively.
From that point on, the two teams combined for 10 turnovers and 14 shot attempts and both sides exchanged blows. The Sea Gulls, however, managed goals at the 7:13 and 5:00 marks from Riley Strub and Cross Ferrara to cushion their lead back to four. Brown later scored again from Burns with just under four minutes to play, but the SU defense limited W&L to just two shot attempts the rest of the way.
Burns put the Generals on the board first at the 11:39 mark of the opening frame, but three straight goals and 5-of-6 from the Sea Gulls gave the home side a 5-2 advantage with 6:04 left in the second quarter. Each of W&L's first three goals were answered with multiple Salisbury scores, including four straight following a
Sam Mannino (Fair Haven, N.J. / Rumson Fair Haven) goal to give the Sea Gulls their 9-3 lead before W&L's late push.
Burns led the offensive efforts with four points on two goals and two assists, with his assist on the team's final goal counting as his 100th career point. Burns also collected three ground balls. Brown scored three goals, scooped up two ground balls and caused a turnover, while Allen (2g) and Pokorny (1g, 1a) rounded out the multi-point performances for the Blue and White. Pokorny ends his record-breaking season with program records for points (109) and assists (59) in a season, with his assist total also setting a new ODAC record.
Senior
Harris Hubbard (Madison, Miss. / Highland Park (Texas)) led the W&L defensive unit with three ground balls and three caused turnovers on the day, while senior
Alex Kelly (Sudbury, Mass. / Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) caused one and junior
Jed Heald (Manchester, N.H. / Phillips Academy Andover (Mass.)) forced two and grabbed one ground ball. Senior
Warren Seeds (Atlanta, Ga. / Westminster) performed strongly between the pipes, as he made 14 saves in the 60 minutes of play.
Jude Brown led Salisbury with five points on one goal and four assists, and Ferrara tallied all four of his points on goals. Blake Malamphy (10-13) and Mackenzie Moreland (8-11) lost just three face-off attempts each and combined to go 18-of-24. Malamphy also added nine ground balls and two caused turnovers to his line.
Zach Timmons pestered W&L players throughout, causing four turnovers and claiming six ground balls. Strub and Evan Huffman both caused two turnovers, as well, and Strub scooped up three ground balls. Nicholas Ransom earned the win in goal with an 11-save performance across 60 minutes of play.
The Generals conclude the 2023 season with an overall mark of 18-5, which is a new single-season wins record. They also set the program record for goals in a season (403).
