LEXINGTON, Va. – The 11th-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team scored the final 12 goals in a 24-6 win over Guilford, and 14 of the final 15 in the game, to earn its second ODAC win of the season on Saturday in as many games.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (6-3, 2-0 ODAC) scored three of the first four goals of the day, with two coming from senior
Alex Brown, but the Quakers (4-5, 1-1 ODAC) fought back to trail by a 4-3 score at the end of the first quarter. W&L then went on a 6-1 run in the second quarter, before allowing a goal with 26 seconds left, to take a 10-4 lead. Sophomore
Sam Bassett powered the run with two goals, while senior
Leif Smith scored once and had an assist.
W&L ran away with the win in the second half, however, as the Quakers' only score over the final 30 minutes came from Gabe Alvarez with 8:03 left in the third. Senior
Sam Mannino scored the Generals' 11th goal of the game at 9:12 while Brown assisted sophomore
James Haley at 8:31, before the team tacked on each of the final 12 goals of the game from 6:05 left in the third to 1:00 left in regulation.
Brown tallied a team-high three goals during the final 12-0 run, and the team got an additional two goals each from sophomore
John Lane and senior
A.J. Levitt. Senior
Michael Ott had a big impact on the final run, as well, with four assists.
TOP PERFORMERS:
After a seven-goal performance in the previous game, Brown finished at seven points again on Saturday, as he scored five goals and assisted on an additional two scores, while adding five ground balls and a caused turnover. Ott followed with six points on one goal and a career-high five assists, and Smith (4pts) and Mannino (3pts) both scored three times. Haley (6gb) and Bassett (1gb) rounded out the Generals with three or more points on the day, as both scored twice and assisted on one goal.
Face-off duties were split evenly among seniors
Will Bou and
Nick Tussing and first-year
Tyler Spano. Spano went 9-of-11 to lead the trio, Tussing won 6-of-10 and Bou was the winner on 6-of-11 tries. Spano picked up seven ground balls, and assisted Haley on a goal, while Tussing and Bou combined for six ground balls.
Sophomore
Jay O'Keefe led the defensive efforts with three caused turnovers and four ground balls, followed by first-year
Ryan Donahue and senior
Henry Reed with three ground balls and two caused turnovers each. Senior
Jed Heald caused two turnovers, as well, and scooped up two ground balls, and sophomore
Elliot Cohen had one caused turnover and three ground balls.
Alvarez was the top offensive player for the Quakers with three points on three goals. Seth Woods was the only other Guilford player to record multiple points, as he scored twice. Drew Sizemore caused three turnovers and got to four ground balls, while Jax Atkins and Cam Walters had two ground balls and two caused turnovers each.
W&L senior
Ryan Aljader picked up the win in goal, as he made two saves in the first half. First-year Nic De Cain played the first 26:17 of the second half and made three saves, before junior
Keene Cornick played the final 3:43. Darrius Safavi-Abbassi took the loss for Guilford with eight saves in 53:20 of game time.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Brown's five goals put him into the W&L men's lacrosse Top 10 for goals scored in a career. With 114 goals, now, through 51 games, Brown ranks 10th on the program leaderboard, and he can move into ninth place (Colin Dougherty '00) with two more scores.
Ott's six-point performance on Saturday moved him within four points of reaching an even 100 for his career. Ott has played in 53 games for the Blue and White, and he has 44 goals and 52 assists.
The Generals' 24 goals scored marked a season-high. W&L entered the day ranking 22nd in Division III in goals per game at 15.38, but that average jumped to 16.33, which would rank 11th in the country, after Saturday's strong performance.
TEAM STATS:
W&L forced Guilford into 32 turnovers and limited the Quakers to just 15-of-26 on clears, while clearing 18-of-22 itself. The Blue and White outshot GC, 61-24, and took 13 or more shots in each quarter, while doubling up the Quakers in ground balls (64-32).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to the field on Wednesday when they travel to Ashland for a 7:00 p.m. opening face-off against Randolph-Macon.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
