LEXINGTON, Va. – Sophomore
James Haley scored or assisted on each of Washington and Lee's final five goals, as the 12th-ranked Generals picked up a vital Old Dominion Athletic Conference win on Saturday, 11-10, over Hampden-Sydney.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game entered the third quarter favoring the Tigers (10-3, 4-1 ODAC) by a 6-5 score, but the Generals (8-3, 4-0 ODAC) held the visitors off the board in the third and scored five goals of their own to assume a 10-6 lead. Junior
Hillis Burns had the first goal at the 10:07 mark, while Haley scored the next four.
The Tigers made a run at knotting the game in the fourth quarter, which started with back-to-back goals over the first seven minutes. Senior
Alex Brown scored off a feed from Haley with six minutes remaining to cushion the W&L lead back to three goals, but the Tigers scored twice more at 3:20 and 2:37 to make it an 11-10 game.
Senior
Will Bou won the ensuing face-off, and the Generals ran 80 seconds off the clock with controlled passing. After the Tigers took over possession of the ball, junior
Matthew Ezzell created havoc around midfield and forced the ball out of Thomas Harry's stick, where junior
Riley Albregts scooped up the loose ball and raced into the offensive half to kill the remaining time.
The Generals got off to a fast start on the afternoon, scoring each of the game's first four goals, with three coming from Brown and three assists from Burns. HSC countered with four straight goals of its own, which were part of an overall 6-1 run to end the half.
TOP PERFORMERS:
The W&L offense was led by Burns, Haley and Brown, who combined for 17 of the Generals' 18 points in the game. Burns scored once and dished out a career-high five assists, while Haley finished with four goals and two helpers, to go along with five ground balls. Brown scored five times for his fourth five-goal performance of the season. The only other point from the W&L offense came from senior
Jed Heald, who notched his first career goal at the 12:14 mark of the first quarter.
First-year
Tyler Spano and senior
Will Bou handled face-off duties for the Blue and White. Spano went 9-of-11 with nine ground balls, and Bou won 8-of-13 and picked up four ground balls.
Sophomore
Chris Datz led the defensive efforts for the Generals with four caused turnovers and six ground balls. Ezzell caused two turnovers, Heald added a ground ball and a turnover caused to his day, and sophomore
Elliot Cohen got to four ground balls. In goal, first-year
Nick De Cain earned the win after he made 13 saves across all 60 minutes of play.
Patrick Saunders and Ray O'Brien were the top offensive players for the Tigers with four points each. Saunders scored twice and had two assists, while O'Brien scored one goal and assisted on three. Peter Smith made 15 saves in the HSC goal, while Harry (2gb, 3ct) and Conor Kilfeather (4gb, 3ct) led the defensive efforts.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The Generals' 11-10 win on Saturday is the second straight regular seasons meeting with the Tigers that saw the home team claim victory at that score. Last year's regular season matchup favored HSC, 11-10, in four overtimes.
Brown's five-goal performance moved him up two spots on the W&L men's lacrosse career goals list. He passed Chris Brown '00 (117) and Mac Means '13 (118), and he now sits just one goal behind Taylor WItherell '22 (122) for sixth place.
TEAM STATS:
W&L held positive statistical margins in total shots (48-40) and ground balls (46-34). The Blue and White also cleared 25-of-27 chances (.926), while the Tigers turned it over six times in 29 clear opportunities (.793).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will play their first of two straight road games on Wednesday, when they travel to Shenandoah for a 7:00 p.m. start.
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.
