LEXINGTON, Va. – The seventh-ranked Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team rallied furiously in the second half, but were unable to overcome a seven-goal halftime deficit as the Generals dropped a 14-12 final against No. 10 Gettysburg on Sunday in the NCAA Championship Round of 16.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Bullets (15-4) struck for the game's first three goals across the opening 5:13 of action, but W&L's (17-4)
Elliot Cohen had a quick response after the third goal, as he scored 15 seconds later to make it a 3-1 game. After a goal from Gettysburg's Nicholas Limberg, W&L first-years
Robert Bath and
Jack Dalton found the back of the net to cut the deficit back to one.
Gettysburg closed out the first-quarter scoring with a Jackson Alpaugh goal to take a 5-3 lead, before the Bullets proceeded to outscore W&L, 5-0, in the second quarter to assume a 10-3 halftime advantage. Alpaugh had another goal in the second, plus an assist, with Limberg also tallying two points in the frame to lead the Bullets' offense.
The Generals came out of the locker room and scored the next two goals in the game, from junior
Colin Beatty and senior
Hillis Burns, before Jackson Barroll scored his third goal of the game for Gettysburg. W&L kept up the offensive intensity, however, by scoring each of the next five goals to trail 11-10 with 14:49 left in regulation. Junior
Byron Newman got the W&L offense going with the first two scores of the 5-0 run, before Spano ended the run by winning the opening draw of the fourth quarter and scoring unassisted.
The Bullets ran their lead back to three goals (13-10) by the 11:31 mark of the fourth with scores from Luke Barbera (12:10) and Barroll (11:31), but the Generals continued to fight as junior
James Haley scored at 6:39, followed by another Spano goal just seven seconds later.
Over the final 6:32 of regulation, the Generals got three shots off and put each on goal, but Gettysburg goalie Murphy Hoey was there for the stop on each try. After a Hoey save with 2:34 remaining, Gettysburg cleared and tallied the final goal of the game when Jack Dunleavy scored with 1:18 to play. The Bullets won the ensuing face-off but turned the ball over 37 seconds later. Gettysburg's defense then held strong, allowing just one shot from senior
Joey Allen with 10 seconds left, which was saved by Hoey and cleared down the field.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Burns notched a W&L-high four points on two goals and two assists, while Newman (2g), Dalton (1g, 1a) and Spano (2g) all had two points. Spano also won 19-of-27 face-offs in the game and scooped up 14 ground balls.
W&L's top defender resided between the pipes in sophomore
Nick De Cain, who played all 60 minutes and made a career-high 23 saves. This included stopping 12-of-16 Gettysburg shots on goal in the second half to allow the W&L offense to get the team back in the game.
Barroll finished the game with a Gettysburg-best five points on four goals and an assist, followed by three points on two goals and an assist each from Limberg and Alpaugh. Frank Barbera caused a game-high three turnovers, with Barroll leading the way with five ground balls. Hoey ended the day with 17 saves in 60 minutes in goal to earn the win.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The Generals conclude the 2025 season with an overall record of 17-4 for the second-most wins in a season in program history (18, 2023). Their 0.810 winning percentage on the season was the highest since the 2001 team went 14-1 for a 0.933 win percentage.
Burns' four-point game on Sunday cemented his career totals of 248 points on 152 goals and 96 assists. He finishes his career ranked third in program history for points, sixth in goals and ninth in assists.
Spano ended the season with a total of 298 face-off wins, just three away from breaking his own program record set last season. Spano also finished with the fourth-best single-season face-off winning percentage in program history (0.725) and currently owns the career percentage record at 0.684 (Jack Hodgson '20, 0.673).
De Cain's 23 saves marked the first 20-save performance by a W&L goalie since Nick Spagnoletti '22 had 21 saves in back-to-back games in March of 2022. The 23 stops by De Cain were the most in a game for a W&L netminder since before the 2008 season.
TEAM STATS:
The Bullets outshot the Generals, 58-48, with a 37-29 advantage in shots on goal. Gettysburg also committed three fewer turnovers than W&L, while the Blue and White held a positive margin in ground balls, 42-33. Both defensive units held the opposing offenses to 0-for-2 on extra-man opportunities.
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.
