LYNCHBURG, Va. – Senior
Michael Ott assisted on three straight goals and tallied the deciding score late in the fourth, as the 10th-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team defeated No. 11 Lynchburg, 10-9, on Saturday night at Shellenberger Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Lynchburg's (6-5, 3-1 ODAC) Dylan Wolfe scored the final goal of the first half, which spurred a 4-0 run for the Hornets until a Liam Holman score left the hosts up 7-5 with 7:24 left in the third. W&L (10-3, 6-0 ODAC) first-year
Tyler Spano came up for the ensuing face-off, won it and raced up-field before finding sophomore
Jay O'Keefe for a score to make it a 7-6 game.
Just under four minutes later, Ott found classmate
Leif Smith with 3:26 remaining in the third to tie the game, 7-7. The game did not stay tied for long, as Parker Sealey put the Hornets back in front five seconds later for an 8-7 lead that held into the fourth quarter.
Ott continued to distribute the ball and find teammates in prime scoring position, as he assisted on the next two goals for the Generals, once to senior
Alex Brown at 13:59 and again to junior
Jack Elliott with 5:16 left, as W&L regained a one-goal lead. Lynchburg's Riley Mitchell equalized at the 3:07 mark, but Ott's hand stayed hot, and this time he scored the go-ahead and ultimately game-winning goal with 2:06 left in regulation after Smith found him right in front of the goal.
Senior
Sam Mannino got the scoring started on the night with a goal at the 12:13 mark of the first, but Lynchburg's Riley Hastings scored the next two to flip the lead. Three straight goals from W&L followed, from Smith, sophomore
James Haley and Brown, before the two teams traded one goal each ahead of Wolfe's goal to start the 4-0 Lynchburg run.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Ott recorded all four of his points in the game over the final 18:26 to lead the Generals from behind, while Smith came in next at three points on two goals and an assist. Brown and Haley rounded out the multi-point Generals with two goals each, and they both picked up two ground balls. Spano took all 23 face-offs in the game for W&L, winning 16 and collecting 11 ground balls.
On the defensive end, sophomore
Chris Datz caused two turnovers and picked up five ground balls, and junior
Riley Albregts and sophomore
Elliot Cohen both caused one turnover and combined for five ground balls. In goal, first-year
Nick De Cain played all 60 minutes and stopped 10-of-19 shots on target from the Hornets' offense.
Mitchell had a Lynchburg-high three points on two goals and an assist, while Hastings (2g) was the only other Hornet to log multiple points. Steve Ulrichs, Darren Palma and Alex Blanchard all caused two turnovers to lead the defensive efforts, and Tyler Hadley made nine saves in 60 minutes between the pipes.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Ott's second assist of the game, which came at 13:59 of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 8-8, marked the 100th point in his career. He will go into his next appearance at 102 career points on 46 goals and 56 assists in 57 games.
The W&L win over Lynchburg on Saturday went as the Generals' third victory in the last four meetings against the Hornets, and all four of those contests have been decided by one goal each. Additionally, the road team has now won five straight games in the all-time head-to-head.
Saturday's win for the Generals was also their sixth consecutive, which extends their longest winning streak of the season. It is the longest since last season's 12-game streak leading into the NCAA Quarterfinals.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to the field on Wednesday when they host Averett at 5:00 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.
