WINCHESTER, Va. – Six points from junior
Hillis Burns and five from sophomore
James Haley led the 10th-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team to an 18-8 road win over Shenandoah on a rainy Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (9-3, 5-0 ODAC) jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first 25 minutes, powered by three goals from Burns. Shenandoah's (6-5, 2-2 ODAC) Clark Harrity notched his side's first goal with only 37 seconds left in the second quarter, but Burns got that goal back for the Blue and White just 25 seconds later off a feed from senior
Sam Mannino.
Burns' goal to end the half spurred another 5-0 run until 11:01 remained in the third. W&L's lead grew to as large as 17-4 at the 9:38 mark of the fourth quarter, with a different player scoring each time as the team total swelled from 11 to 17. Senior
A.J. Levitt tallied the Generals' final goal of the game with 5:49 left, and the Hornets ended the game on a high note with the final three goals to yield the final score.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Burns ended the night with five goals and an assist to get to six points, while Haley scored twice and assisted on three scores. Senior
Alex Brown not only scored four goals, he caused two turnovers and scooped up five ground balls. Mannino and senior
Michael Ott rounded out the multi-point Generals with a goal and an assist each.
Collectively, four Generals went 18-of-30 on face-offs, with first-year
Tyler Spano pacing the bunch with nine wins, six ground balls and an assist. First-year
Ryan Donahue matched Brown for the team high in caused turnovers (2), while sophomore
Chris Datz and first-year
Andrew Keller combined for eight ground balls.
Logan Clingerman led the Hornets' offensive efforts with four points on three goals and an assist, while Harrity scored two goals. Zander Smith and Dylan Pencek combined for five ground balls, and they both caused one turnover, with Pencek adding a goal.
Between the pipes, W&L's
Nick De Cain played the first three quarters and stopped 8-of-11 shots, before he gave way to senior
Ryan Aljader for the fourth quarter. Aljader made three saves in relief. Mark Isabelle was tagged with the loss in the SU net after he made 10 saves in 54:11 of action.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Brown's four-goal game moved him into sixth place on the W&L men's lacrosse goals list (125), passing Taylor Witherell '22 (122). In addition, Brown needs eight more goals to tie Rob Morgan (1975) for the fifth-most goals scored in a single-season (53).
Burns' five-goal performance cut his chase for 100 career goals to 10. Burns now has 90 career goals in 39 games. Ott can also cross a career century mark soon, as the senior needs just two more points for 100.
TEAM STATS:
W&L outshot the hosts by a final tally of 55-31, which stood at 49-18 through three quarters. The Blue and White doubled up the Hornets in ground balls (44-22), and cleared 24-of-25 chances to 21-of-27 for Shenandoah.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will make the short drive to Lynchburg on Saturday night for a 7:00 p.m. start against the Hornets in a rematch of last season's ODAC Championship game.
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.
