LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 9 Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team rallied from down six to cut their deficit in half in the fourth, but No. 10 Gettysburg managed to outlast the Generals, 16-13, on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Bullets (3-1) scored the first two goals of the day and three of the first four to pressure the Generals (2-2) from the start. Through the 11:39 mark of the second quarter, in which Gettysburg built up an 8-3 lead, the Bullets did not allow consecutive scores for the Generals until junior
Byron Newman and first-year
Robert Bath got on the board just 49 seconds apart to get back within three.
Gettysburg responded with the next three goals and 5-of-7 overall in the game to run their lead to 13-7 with 1:45 left in the third. W&L junior
Sam Bassett closed the third-quarter scoring with a tally at the 0:41 mark, which preceded two
Hillis Burns goals to open the fourth to get the Generals' deficit down to three. After a Will Hedley goal for the Bullets,
Joey Allen (12:03), Burns (11:49) and first-year
James Meyer (4:51) led a 3-1 run that got it back to a two-goal game.
Charlie Johnson then provided an insurance goal for Gettysburg at the 3:37 mark of the fourth. From that point on, the Generals did manage to put three shots on goal looking to close the gap, but Gettysburg keeper Murphy Hoey made the stop on each occasion to secure the Bullets' win.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Burns led the W&L offense with five total points on four goals and an assist, while Bath scored twice and dished out one assist. Allen (2g), junior
James Haley (1g, 1a) and Meyer (1g, 1a) also had multiple points for the offense. Sophomore
Tyler Spano had a strong game at the X, as he won 24-of-30 face-offs, picked up 15 ground balls and added an assist.
Junior
Jay O'Keefe and first-year
Gabe Reiter posted the top defensive numbers, with O'Keefe at two ground balls and three caused turnovers to Reiter's give ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior
Chris Datz added four ground balls and two caused turnovers, with an additional four Generals adding multiple ground balls.
Johnson tied Burns for the game-high of five points, as he scored three goals and had two assists. Jackson Barroll followed with four goals, with Hedley at two goals and an assist. Owen McAllister caused a team-high three turnovers and picked up a ground ball, and Johnson paced the Bullets with five ground balls.
In goal, W&L's
Nick De Cain made 17 saves across the 60 minutes of action, while Hoey stopped 13-of-26 shots faced. De Cain elevated his play in the second half with 12 saves and six goals allowed.
TEAM STATS:
The Bullets outshot the Generals by a 49-42 margin, and they held the Generals under double-digit shot attempts in three of the four quarters. W&L got to 42 ground balls, with 30 for the Bullets, with both teams having success on their clears. The Blue and White went 19-of-21, while Gettysburg was 27-of-30.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be off from midweek action before returning on Friday at 11:30 a.m. against No. 11 St. Lawrence in the first game of the annual Callum Robinson Mustang Classic.
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.
