LEXINGTON, Va. – For the second straight home game, the No. 8 Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team won in walk-off fashion, this time from senior
Joey Allen 54 seconds into overtime, to top No. 13 Lynchburg, 14-13, on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In another classic between two of the ODAC's best men's lacrosse programs, Lynchburg (7-5, 4-1 ODAC) led by a 9-5 score at the half when the Generals (11-3, 7-0 ODAC) began chipping away. Senior
Jack Elliott scored the first two goals of the third quarter to start a 6-1 run for the W&L offense that propelled them ahead, 11-10, by the 3:05 mark. Elliott had three goals during the run, with junior
James Haley and senior
Hillis Burns contributing five points total.
Lynchburg's Jake Rust scored with 25 seconds left before the fourth, but the Generals had a quick response as sophomore
Tyler Spano won the ensuing face-off and found junior
Chris Datz for a go-ahead goal with 12 seconds left.
The fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring period in regulation at three goals, with the Hornets taking a 13-12 lead with 5:05 left behind two goals from Finn Schmidt. Less than a minute later, however, Burns tallied the game-tying goal on a difficult shot attempt as he was fading away from the goal.
In what proved to be the final possession of regulation, W&L sophomore
Spencer Surface locked Rust up as he tried to move towards goal for a shot. Surface managed to knock the ball loose where Elliott secured the loose ball to run out the remainder of the regulation clock. In overtime, the Hornets fended off a W&L man-up opportunity, but the Generals continued to work the ball around until sophomore
James Cardillo found Allen for a shot that beat the goalie inside the left post.
The Generals started the game fast with a 3-1 lead through just over five minutes of play, with two goals from Allen, but the Hornets seized control by scoring the next six goals for a 7-3 lead with 7:20 left in the second quarter. Elliott and Haley answered for the Generals, but two more Hornets goals closed out the first-half scoring for the 9-5 Lynchburg lead.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Four different Generals scored four or more points on the night, with Elliott (4g, 1a) and Haley (3g, 2a) leading the charge at five apiece. Allen (3g, 1a) and Burns (2g, 2a) followed with four points each, while that quartet of players combined for six ground balls and a caused turnover (Burns). Spano ended the game 18-of-27 on face-off attempts with eight ground balls and his one assist.
Datz led the defensemen with two caused turnovers and three ground balls, in addition to his clutch goal at the end of the third quarter. Junior
Jay O'Keefe also caused a pair of turnovers and scooped up one ground ball, while junior
Nick Garcia got to four ground balls and caused one turnover. Sophomore goalie
Nick De Cain got the win between the pipes after he made 11 saves across all 60:54 of play.
Rust tallied a Lynchburg-high four points on four goals, with three points each coming from Riley Hastings (3a), Spencer Vandenberg (2g, 1a) and Schmidt (3g). Schmidt also tallied a caused turnover and three ground balls, while goalie Andrew Miller made 12 saves, caused a turnover, picked up four ground balls and scored a goal. Miller played 60:21 in the losing effort, subbing out briefly for Eric Allen, who stopped 1-of-2 shots in 33 seconds before Miller re-entered.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The win for W&L on Wednesday night marked the first win in the series by the home team since April 3, 2021. Prior to tonight, the road team had won six consecutive games. Additionally, five of the last six games in the all-time head-to-head have been decided by exactly one goal. The Generals have now won 22 consecutive regular season ODAC games.
Elliott cracked into triple digits for career points on Wednesday with his five-point performance. He entered the night with 97 points (66g, 31a) before notching his season-high five against the Hornets.
Burns' four-point game moved him into a tie for third place on the program's all-time points list with Don Carroll '76 (234).
TEAM STATS:
The Hornets outshot the Blue and White by a 44-38 final total, but W&L put more shots on goal at 27-24. The Generals also outgained Lynchburg, 34-27, in ground balls and both teams were successful on all but four clear attempts.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will have eight days off before their next game when they travel to Averett on Friday, April 18, for a 5:00 p.m. start against the Cougars.
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.
