WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson men's lacrosse team fell to Oberlin, 14-11, in its return from a five-game road trip on Wednesday night, March 29, in nonconference action.
 
Ben Ward (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) scored the first goal of the game, just over five minutes in, to give the Presidents the early 1-0 lead. After Oberlin scored three straight, W&J countered with three consecutive goals of its own, including a Bryan Whipkey (Poland, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney) goal just before the first quarter buzzer sounded.
 
The Yeomen answered by scoring four of the next five goals to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.
 
Devon Curran (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) scored 1:21 into the third to open the scoring in the second half, but Oberlin came right back with four straight goals to gain a commanding 11-6 lead with 5:43 remaining in the third. Ward added a goal before the Yeomen scored with 30 seconds to play in the period as W&J entered the final frame trailing, 12-7.
 
The Presidents put together a strong comeback attempt, scoring three straight goals in the first six minutes of the quarter from Whipkey, Ward and Kyle Heinig (North Wales, Pa./North Penn). After Oberlin ended the 3-0 run from the Presidents with one goal, Ward added his fourth goal of the game to cut the lead back down to 13-11 with 2:47 to play. John Sutherland tacked on the final goal of the game for Oberlin with 1:35 remaining in the game.
 
Heinig led the Presidents' attack on the night, finishing with seven points, including a career-high five assists. He also set the new W&J all-time shots record (437) as he took 12 shots in the game to pass Joseph Eck for the all-time lead. His five assists also broke a tie with Eck for second place on the all-time assists list.
 
Ward continued his strong freshman campaign with a four-goal performance, his second consecutive four-goal game and fourth game of the season with at least four goals. Curran also totaled four points on three goals and an assist. Curran has two hat tricks in his last three games and has three straight games with multiple goals.
 
Whipkey finished with two scores and an assist while Rocco Ruscitto (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and Mark Mandak (Enola, Pa./Trinity) both recorded an assist to round out the W&J scoring.
 
Noah Cohen (Hewlett, N.Y./George W. Hewlett) picked up a team-high seven ground balls while Ruscitto and Dylan Shepherd finished with three each. Cohen (3-7) took the loss in net for the Presidents, making 17 saves on the night. His 17 saves gives him 151 saves so far this season which is the seventh most in a season in W&J history.
 
The Presidents will get back on the field on Saturday, April 1, when they travel to Thiel in their return to Ohio River Lacrosse Conference action at 1:00 p.m.