LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior
James Haley tallied four points, including the 200th of his career, while the No. 16 Washington and Lee men's lacrosse team rallied in the second quarter en route to a 14-10 win over Roanoke on Wednesday night in the team's ODAC opener.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- For the first nine total goals of the game, spanning 11:32, each W&L (4-4, 1-0 ODAC) goal was met by two from Roanoke (5-2, 1-1 ODAC), putting the Maroons up, 6-3, at the 3:28 mark.
- With 1:53 left in the opening frame, first-year Tucker Davis scored on an assist from classmate Eli Smink, which kickstarted a run of four straight goals and an 8-1 overall run from the Generals to end the first half. That run left the hosts up, 11-7, at the break, with first-year Luke Caldwell leading that stretch with five points (2g, 3a).
- Haley reached the 200-point plateau for his career with 3:23 left in the second quarter, the team's seventh goal in the 8-1 run. It was his second goal of the game on top of an assist in the first quarter.
- The Maroons scored the next two goals early in the second quarter to pull back within two, and they even managed to keep the Generals off the board for the first 11:16 of the second half. With 3:44 left in the third, however, Haley found first-year Garrett Ferguson to start another string of three straight W&L goals.
- That 3-0 run secured a 14-9 lead with 10 and a half minutes left in regulation. The Generals' defense continued to lock down the Roanoke offense, allowing just one goal in the final 10:28.
TOP PERFORMERS:
- Haley finished the game with four points, as he added an assist in the third quarter, while Caldwell led the offense with six points on two goals and four assists. Sophomore James Meyer (2g, 1a) and Ferguson (3g) both notched three points.
- The Generals won 17-of-27 (.630) of the face-offs in the game, paced by 9-of-11 from sophomore Israel Mikkelson and 3-for-4 from junior Thomas Moxley.
- Sophomore Gabe Reiter had a W&L-high five ground balls, while senior defenseman Jay O'Keefe highlighted the defense with two caused turnovers and four ground balls.
- Sophomore JJ Kim entered the game with 3:28 left in the first quarter and turned in a stellar performance between the pipes. He allowed just four goals over the remaining 48:28 of action and made 13 saves.
- Clayton Bewick had a Roanoke-high four points on three goals and an assist, while Noah Bell (1g, 1a), Jack Savoie (1g, 1a) and Patrick Cullen (2g) each had two points.
- Blake Reiger led the Maroons with two caused turnovers, plus one ground ball, and three players tied for the team lead with three ground balls.
- David Hamilton played all 60 minutes in the Roanoke goal, made 10 saves and also scored a goal.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Haley became just the ninth player in program history to reach the 200-point milestone for a career and the first to do so since Hillis Burns '25 last season. Now with 201 career points (125g, 76a), Haley trails Will Keigler '10 by 11 points for eighth place on the program leaderboard.
- Wednesday night's ODAC-opening win extended the Generals' winning streak in conference play to 26 games. Their last regular season loss to an ODAC team was an 11-10 decision in quadruple-overtime at Hampden-Sydney on March 29, 2023.
TEAM STATS:
- The Generals outshot the Maroons 49-38 overall and 24-23 on goal. W&L took at least 11 shots in each quarter with highs of 14 total in the first quarter and nine on goal in the second.
- W&L held Roanoke to just 75.9 percent (22-29) on clear attempts, while successfully clearing 86.4 percent (19-22) themselves.
- Roanoke held a slight 30-27 edge in ground balls for the game and both teams went 1-for-2 on man-up opportunities.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will head to Virginia Beach on Saturday for their next game, as they take on Virginia Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m.
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.
