LEXINGTON, Va. – After a slow to start to their season finale, the No. 9 Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team dominated the final three quarters in a 26-4 win over Virginia Wesleyan on Friday to celebrate Senior Day.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (14-3, 10-0 ODAC) struck first with two goals in 1:35 from seniors
Hillis Burns and
Riley Albregts, but the Marlins (7-10, 4-6 ODAC) responded with a pair of scores over the next four minutes to knot the score. Junior
James Haley then found the back of the net for the Blue and White at the 8:57 mark, followed by a tally from senior
Jack Elliott for another two-goal lead at 7:07.
The Marlins got a man-up goal from Liam Murphy with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame, before W&L first-year
James Meyer put the Generals back ahead by two with 4:13 to close out the first-quarter scoring.
W&L's offense and defense settled in after that, as it outscored Virginia Wesleyan 21-1 from the start of the second quarter until the final horn, including each of the final 17 goals in the game. First-year
Avery Richardson led the team in that time with four goals, followed by three each from senior
Gavin McClernan and sophomore
Harrison Hanson.
TOP PERFORMERS:
McClernan paced the W&L offense with a career-high eight points on three goals and five assists, to go along with two ground balls and a caused turnover. Hanson followed at five points on three goals and two assists, while Richardson and juniors
Ben Irmscher and
Jack Booth all logged four points. In total, the Generals had seven players produce at least three points, with 17 players scoring at least one point.
The W&L face-off unit dominated all game, winning 31-of-34 against the Marlins. Sophomore
Tyler Spano and first-years
Israel Mikkelson and
Jax Lou combined for all 34 attempts, and none of those three players lost more than one face-off. Spano went 14-of-15 with 12 ground balls, Lou was 10-of-11 with four ground balls and Mikkelson won 7-of-8 with seven ground balls.
Ten out of the Marlins' 29 turnovers were caused by Generals, led by juniors
Jay O'Keefe and
Jay Seevers, and first-year
Gabe Reiter, who all caused two. O'Keefe and Reiter scooped up three ground balls, as well, tied with Hanson, Irmscher, Richardson and first-years
Thomas Garcia and
Matt Blanton for the most among non-faceoff players.
First-year
JJ Kim got the win in goal after he started and made two saves in the first half. Senior
Keene Cornick covered goalie duties in the second half and made six saves, including five in the fourth quarter to put a stamp on the senior day win.
Murphy and Sebastien Reynolds led the Marlins offense with two points each, Maddox Coelho caused a pair of turnovers and Roman Foster picked up four ground balls to round out the Marlins' top players. Goalie Zack Tucker started and made 12 saves across 37:56 of action in the losing effort.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
With the win on Friday, the Generals capped off their second-straight undefeated season in ODAC play and third in the last four seasons. This year's 10-player senior class helped the program to a 36-2 ODAC record over the last four seasons, with the team being undefeated in ODAC play in games that ended in regulation.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals finished the game with a 79-25 shot advantage, their most shot attempts in a game since at least 2008, while they owned a 44-12 advantage in shots on goal and a 70-26 positive margin in ground balls. Both teams completed 15 clear attempts, but the Generals forced the Marlins into 19 failed clears for just a 0.441 success rate.
UP NEXT:
Having already locked up the ODAC's top seed prior to Friday's game, the Generals will next play in the conference tournament semifinals on Thursday at home. The time of game and opponent are yet to be determined. The conference will announce seedings for the tournament this weekend on
odaconline.com.
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.
