ASHLAND, Va. – The No. 12 Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team withstood a second-half run from Randolph-Macon to walk away with a 13-11 win in return to ODAC play on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (7-3, 3-0 ODAC) entered the third quarter with a 9-4 lead, but the Yellow Jackets (8-2, 2-2 ODAC) began to chip away as they scored five of the next seven goals in the game to get back within two goals.
Both defenses stymied the opposition over the final 11 minutes of play, as each team scored twice. W&L senior
Alex Brown scored with 8:23 remaining to boost his team's lead back to three goals, which held until RMC's Jack Smith found the back of the net with 2:46 left. With 1:10 to play, the Generals forced a turnover and looked to burn the clock, which preceded a
Sam Mannino goal with 18 seconds left to ice the win.
The Yellow Jackets scored the first two goals of the game in the first three minutes of play, but the Blue and White responded with six straight goals and ended the first half on an overall 9-2 run. Senior
Leif Smith led the 6-0 run with two goals and an assist, while scores from Mannino, junior
Jack Todd and sophomore
James Haley ended the half.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Smith (2g, 1a), Haley (2g, 1a) and Mannino (3g) led the W&L attack with three points each, with Haley adding two ground balls and a caused turnover. Brown and junior
Jack Elliott tallied two points on two goals each, and sophomore
Elliot Cohen assisted on two scores. First-year
Tyler Spano had a major impact on face-offs for the Generals, as he won 15-of-22 and scooped up 10 ground balls.
Sophomore
Chris Datz and first-year
Ryan Donahue both went for three ground balls and a caused turnover, and Cohen, senior
Jed Heald, junior
Matthew Ezzell and first-year
Blair Brennan all caused one turnover and picked up one ground ball.
RMC's Avery Tankersley scored a game-high four points on two goals and two assists, followed by Austin Payne who scored three times. Mike Allen had the top defensive showing on the night with five caused turnovers and two ground balls, while Cooper Hauser caused three turnovers and Brodie Kent picked up six ground balls and had two caused turnovers.
W&L's
Nick De Cain and RMC's Jack Twomey both played the duration of the game and made 11 saves between the pipes.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Brown's two goals on Wednesday moved him past Colin Dougherty '00 (115) for the ninth-most goals in program history (116). Next on the program leaderboard is Chris Brown '00 at 117 goals.
TEAM STATS:
The Yellow Jackets outshot the Blue and White, 40-33, and forced W&L into two more turnovers (17) than it committed (15). The Generals edged the hosts in ground balls by a 32-29 count, and both teams successfully cleared at a 90-percent clip or higher.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return home for their next contest, when they host Hampden-Sydney on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
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.
