CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The fourth-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team shook off a slow start at Washington College (Md.) and walked away with a 12-10 win on Wednesday after a lengthy layoff from action.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Shoremen (2-1) scored each of the first three goals of the game, while shutting the Generals (2-0) out in the first quarter, as the Blue and White looked to shake off the rust. Despite three goals allowed, sophomore
Nick De Cain kept his team in the game with six saves across the opening 15 minutes of play.
W&L then struck for the next four goals to take a 4-3 lead with 6:49 remaining in the half. Senior
Riley Albregts scored the first and third goals for the Generals in that span, with one score each from junior
James Haley and first-year
James Meyer. Cam Carrigan knotted the game at four goals before the end of the quarter, before the Generals opened with three of the first four goals of the third quarter to take a 7-5 lead.
Carrigan scored once more for the Shoremen with 6:22 left in the period, but the Generals strung together another run of 4-1 to assume an 11-7 lead with 6:14 left to play. First-year
Robert Bath tallied his first collegiate goal to begin the run, while senior
Joey Allen led the offense with a pair of scores.
The final W&L goal came with 2:47 left in the fourth, after senior
Jack Elliott and first-year
Jack Dalton teamed up to fake-out the defense. Both players appeared to pass the ball off, with Dalton's fake opening room up for Elliott's feed to senior
Hillis Burns on the right side for a key insurance goal. The Shoremen tallied the final two goals of the game, but the final score came with just 15 seconds remaining.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Burns and Haley led the W&L offense with four points each on a goal and three assists for Burns and two goals and two helpers from Haley. Allen (2g, 1a) and Meyer (3g) added three points each, with Albregts (2g), Elliott (2a) and junior
Byron Newman (1g, 1a) at two points apiece. Haley added a career-high eight ground balls, with Elliott picking up three.
Sophomore
Tyler Spano highlighted the face-off specialists in the game, as he went 20-of-25 at the X to go along with 15 ground balls. De Cain led all Generals with two caused turnovers, and he also made 18 saves on 28 shots on goal (.643) across the 60 minutes of action. Allen, first-year
Gabe Reiter and sophomore
Blair Brennan all caused one turnover, with Reiter (4), Elliott (3) and sophomore
Ryan Donahue (3) each scooping up at least three ground balls.
Carrigan finished the game with four points on four goals for the WC offense, tied with Grant Matthews, who scored and assisted twice each, for the most on the team. Tyler Bishop got to five ground balls and Tom Merritt picked up four, with Merritt and Brian Blanche both causing two turnovers.
In the Washington goal, Colin Gray covered 58:42 and stopped 17-of-29 (.586) shots on goal, before Skeet Hine played the final 1:18 and did not face a shot.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Haley's goal with 8:16 left in the second quarter marked the 100th point of his career. After an 82-point sophomore season and six points through two games so far this year, Haley's 88 points over the last 24 games is the most for the Generals in that time.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals nearly doubled the Shoremen up in ground balls, outpacing them by a final tally of 48-26, to go along with a 48-40 positive shot margin. Washington finished 21-of-24 on clear attempts to 18-of-22 for the Blue and White.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to Denison for a 2:00 p.m. opening face-off against the Big Red, who are ranked 20th in the most recent USILA poll.
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.
