WASHINGTON, Pa. – A 5-0 goal advantage in the third quarter helped the Washington & Jefferson men's lacrosse team to a 15-12 Ohio River Lacrosse Conference victory over Chatham on Saturday afternoon, April 7.
 
The Presidents improve to 5-7 overall with the win and 4-1 in ORLC action while the Cougars drop to 5-5 overall and 1-4 in conference.
 
Dylan Shepherd (Eagle, Idaho/Eagle) and Pat Heidecker (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area) scored the first two goals in the game for W&J before Chatham answered by scoring four straight goals from the end of the first quarter to the middle of the second. After both teams scored once to keep Chatham in the lead by two, the Presidents went on a 4-0 run of their own, including two goals from Ben Ward (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), to regain the lead at 7-5.
 
Two more Cougar goals came in the final two minutes of the first half as the game went into halftime tied, 7-7.
 
Ward scored the first two goals of the third quarter for W&J followed by one goal from Patrick Brunner (Ellicoot City, Md./Mount Saint Joseph), Rocco Ruscitto (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and Ray Urbash (Allison Park, Pa./Aquinas Academy) each as the Presidents began to pull away with a 12-7 lead heading into the final frame.
 
After Brunner tallied his fourth goal of the game to begin the fourth quarter, Chatham scored three consecutive goals to cut the W&J lead down to 13-10. Both teams scored twice more after the 4:17-mark, both W&J goals coming from Ward, to yield the final result.
 
Ward's six goals in the contest set a new career high as the sophomore attacker shot 10 times and put eight attempts on goal to go along with three ground balls and an assist for his third game of the season with at least seven points.
 
Brunner's four goals came on eight shots (seven on target) and marked his third hat trick of the season while Mark Mandak (Enola, Pa./Trinity) tied his career high of four assists, his seventh multi-assist game of the year.
 
Heidecker, Ruscitto and Shepherd each finished with two points and Liam Sullivan (Hingham, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), Joseph Tritschler (New Kensington, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) and Urbash all contributed one point to round out the W&J scoring in the game. Heidecker and Michael Aaron Pray III (Gaithersburg, Md./Maret School (D.C.)) led the team with five ground balls apiece and Tritschler picked up two ground balls and caused two turnovers.
 
Noah Cohen (Hewlett, N.Y./George W. Hewlett) improved to 5-7 in cage for the Presidents with 20 saves in the contest, the second time this year the sophomore has stopped 20 or more shots.
 
The Presidents will return to action on Saturday, April 14, for a road 1:00 p.m. ORLC showdown against Transylvania.