WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College men's lacrosse team suffered a tough 14-13 loss to visiting Chatham University in the Presidents' Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Alexandre Stadium.
Neither team built a lead of more than two goals throughout the contest. After Chatham opened the scoring with a goal a little more than a minute in, W&J countered with back-to-back scores by
Benjamin Ward (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) to take a 2-1 lead. The Cougars would tally three of the next four goals to gain a 4-3 edge after the first quarter.
After a quick score by Chatham to open the second quarter,
Pat Brunner (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) and a man-up score by
Pat Heidecker (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area) tied the score at 5-5. Each team went on to register a pair of scores to enter halftime with the score tied at 7-7.
Alex Strain (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) scored off of a pass from Ward before Brunner added a score off a pass from
Nicholas Carr (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan).
W&J opened the third quarter with back-to-back scores by Ward and
Mark Mandak (Enola, Pa./Trinity) to take a 9-7 edge at the 12:47 mark. The visiting Cougars responded with three straight goals to regain the lead (10-9) with 8:40 to play in the third. Strain would add a man-up goal off a pass from Ward to tie the game at 10-10 at the end of the third quarter.
After nearly seven scoreless minutes to open the fourth quarter, Ward scored unassisted to give the Presidents an 12-11 lead with 8:07 mark. The Cougars would use a strong surge, recording the next three goals to take a 14-12 advantage with just 2:29 to play. Ward answered with a score off a pass from Strain with 13 seconds left to cut the deficit to 14-13. However, Chatham won the final face-off to secure the victory.
Ward led all players with eight points (five goals, three assists) while also adding a team-high five ground balls. Brunner added four goals while Strain tallied three points (two goals, one assist).
Noah Cohen (Hewlett, N.Y./George W. Hewlett) recorded 13 saves in the net during the loss.
Chatham held advantages in shots (47-37), shots on goal (27-20), ground balls (50-34) and face-off wins (20-11). W&J held a narrow 16-15 advantage in successful clears and Chatham committed 26 turnovers to 24 for W&J.
The loss drops W&J to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in PAC play. Chatham moves to 6-3 overall and 1-0 in league games.
W&J travels to Saint Vincent for another PAC match on Sunday, April 7. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
