BETHANY, W. Va. -- The Washington & Jefferson men's lacrosse team tallied 16 goals before Bethany scored its first in a 16-3 Presidents' win on Thursday, April 18, in Bethany, W. Va. 

With tonight's victory, the Presidents' overall record evens out at 7-7, while their PAC record improves to 2-3. Bethany, on the other hand, drops to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in conference. 

W&J opened tonight's match with a 6-0 opening quarter. Benjamin Ward (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) tallied the first goal of the game at the 14:26 mark, followed by scores from Alex Strain (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) and Pat Brunner (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) over the next five minutes. One more goal for both Strain and Brunner gave the Red & Black a 6-0 lead. 

The second quarter was much like the first, as W&J topped the Bison by a score of 7-0. This period featured six different President goal-scorers. Tallying their first goals of the game in the second were Brendan Tribeck (Enola, Pa./Trinity), Pat Heidecker (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area), Liam Sullivan (Hingham, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) and Mark Mandak (Enola, Pa./Trinity). 

With a 13-0 lead after one half, the Presidents scored the first three goals of the second half to go up 16-0. Despite allowing the final three goals, W&J cruised to a convincing 16-3 road victory. 

Coinciding with the lopsided final score, W&J owned significant advantages in many of the statistical categories. The Presidents led the Bison in shots (59-30), shots on goal (39-22), turnovers (29-15), ground balls (43-17) and faceoff wins (15-8).

Ward paced all players in tonight's game with five points and four goals. The senior attacker has a team-best 54 points this season and is now two points shy of taking fifth on the W&J's all-time points leaderboard with 164 in his career. 

Brunner was next on the Presidents with four points on three goals and one assist. Brunner has tallied career-bests in points (43), goals (31) and assists (12) so far this season.

Strain finished the day with three points on two goals and an assist. The rookie attacker is up to second on the team with 37 goals. 

Tribeck, Sullivan, Heidecker and Sam Lex (Butler, Pa./Butler) rounded out the Presidents' multi-point scorers. Sullivan's two points are a season-high for the sophomore. 

On the other end of the field, Noah Cohen (Hewlett, N.Y./George W. Hewlett) started and needed to make just four saves to pick up his seventh win of the season. Brody Alloway (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) and Duncan Barbes (Bel Air, Md./Edgewood) both appeared in relief. 

Joseph Tritschler (New Kensington, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) and Jake Duda (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) both finished tied with a game-high three caused turnovers. Tritschler stood alone with a match-leading 11 ground balls, one off his career high. 

The Red & Black will next challenge the PAC-leading Wolverines of Grove City on Wednesday, April 18, at 4 p.m. at Alexandre Stadium.