SALISBURY, Md. – After trailing by as many as seven goals in the first half, the junior
Hillis Burns scored 46 seconds into overtime to complete a furious comeback and send the 13th-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team past top-ranked Salisbury in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (16-5) entered the third quarter trailing 10-6, after making some noise in the second quarter to start their comeback. Salisbury's (21-1) Chris Wong scored the opening goal in the third, but first-year
Tyler Spano put a jolt into the W&L offense by winning the ensuing face-off and taking it straight down the field for a goal. Junior
Jack Elliott then scored a minute and a half later, followed by another Spano goal off the draw to get W&L to an 11-9 deficit.
A Ty Keaton goal ended the Generals' scoring run, but it was short-lived as the Generals rattled off six straight scores across the final five and a half minutes of the third to race ahead, 15-12. In total, Spano led the scoring in the quarter with three goals to help the Blue and White outscore the Sea Gulls, 9-2.
The fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring frame of the game, with the Salisbury defense locking down on the Generals to allow no goals in the quarter, while scoring three times in the final five minutes to tie the game. The equalizer came with 34 seconds remaining in regulation from Jack Dowd.
The overtime period saw one, singular possession thanks to the superb play of Spano. The first-year face-off specialist won the draw and looked to take another one down the field, before backing it out and allowing the offense to setup a play. Senior
Sam Mannino drove in on the right side, but was forced away from the middle of the field by a defender. Mannino gave the ball up to sophomore
James Haley behind the goal on the right side, who swung the ball to his right to Burns. Burns hit the defense with a stutter step, reversed field to his left and scored in the top left corner of the frame to send the Generals on.
Salisbury struck early and often, racing out to a 5-1 lead through one quarter before another three goals came to start the second quarter. Trailing by an 8-1 score, W&L senior
Leif Smith sparked a 4-1 W&L run with a man-up goal at the 6:28 mark. SU's Jude Brown tried cushioning his side's lead with a goal at 1:46, but Burns came up with a response for the Generals just 21 seconds later to keep it a four-goal game at the half.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Burns led the Generals' offense with five points on four goals and an assist, with Spano's three goals following. Elliott tallied three points (2g, 1a), while Haley, Mannino, Smith and senior
Alex Brown all notched two points. Spano won 20-of-33 draws in the game and scooped up 13 ground balls. Haley and Brown also combined for nine ground balls.
Junior
Riley Albregts and sophomore
Jay O'Keefe led the W&L defense with two caused turnovers each, plus five combined ground balls. Sophomore
Chris Datz and goalie
Nick De Cain added five ground balls apiece. De Cain played all 60:46 in the game and stopped 12-of-27 shots. However, De Cain saved seven shots after the half while allowing only five goals.
Keaton and Jude Brown paced the Salisbury offense with five points each, as the pair combined for five goals and five assists. John DeFazio led the defense with three caused turnovers and seven ground balls, and Nicholas Ransom made 11 saves on 27 shots in 60:46.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The Generals' win on Saturday ended a couple of lengthy winning streaks for the Sea Gulls. It snapped an overall 41-game winning streak spanning back to March 4 of last season, and it was their first loss at home since May 19, 2019 (57 games). Interestingly, the Sea Gulls' 41-game winning streak started and ended with a 16-15, overtime result against an ODAC school (Lynchburg).
W&L will make its first NCAA Semifinal appearance on Sunday since 2002, and it will be just the fourth time in program history appearing in the Division III semifinals.
Brown scored twice more on Saturday to give him 72 goals this season and extended his multi-goal streak to 23 consecutive games. Spano's stellar performance on face-offs leaves him just two away from breaking Jack Hodgson's '20 record of 285 from the 2019 season.
Burns' five-point performance catapulted him into the program's career Top 10 points list. Now with 172 (107g, 65a) points in 47 career games, Burns passed Taylor Witherell '22 (171) for 10th place, and he can move into ninth with another five points (Cameron Dabir '15).
TEAM STATS:
After a slow start to the game, the Generals finished with a 50-42 advantage in total shots. Salisbury held a 13-7 margin after the first quarter, before W&L's offense began to find more holes in the defense for a 43-29 edge after that. W&L also only turned the ball over nine times after the first quarter, picked up 45 ground balls to 40 for the Sea Gulls, and went 5-for-9 on man-up opportunities.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will matchup against No. 6 Tufts in Sunday's NCAA Semifinal game, after the Jumbos downed St. John Fisher, 16-6, on Saturday evening. Opening face-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Sea Gull Stadium.
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.
