GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men's lacrosse team scored nine first half goals as the Presidents collected their first win of the season, 12-5 at Thiel on Saturday afternoon.
 
Junior attack Alex Strain (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) led the charge for the Presidents with five goals.
 
Brendan Tribeck (Enola, Pa./Trinity), Carter Watts (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown) and Reilly Oliverio (Carlisle, Pa./Trinity) all turned in four-point days for the W&J offensive unit as well.
 
Tribeck and Watts each had two goals and two assists. Oliverio scored once and dished three assists.
 
Nicholas Grosch (Sarasota, Fla./Butler) turned in another strong performance at the faceoff X. He went 13-19 on faceoffs, snagged 10 ground balls and had an assist.
 
The Presidents scored in the game's first minute as Liam Sullivan (Hingham, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) cashed in on W&J's first shot of the afternoon.
 
After Thiel tied the game at one with 9:50 to go in the first quarter, W&J scored three times in the final 90 seconds to take a 4-1 lead.
 
Grosch fed Watts for his first goal of the day to put W&J ahead 2-1 with 1:03 left in the first. Following a faceoff win, Tribeck found Oliverio for a goal with 31 seconds left, and after another faceoff triumph, Watts scored with 17 seconds left to make it 4-1 Presidents.
 
W&J scored the first five goals of the second quarter to extend its lead to its largest at 9-1.
 
Strain scored nine second into the second quarter from a pass by Tribeck. He added an unassisted tally with 13:24 left in the first half to make it 6-1 W&J.
 
A pair of poles led to W&J's next score with James Deiuliis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) causing a turnover, securing a clear and feeding LSM Luke Geister (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) for a score with 11:29 remaining in the second quarter.
 
Strain added a pair of tallies to make it 9-1 Presidents with 6:46 in the first half. Thiel closed the half with a three-goal run to trim the Presidents' lead to 9-4 at intermission.
 
W&J preserved its lead throughout the third quarter as each team scored just once. Tribeck had W&J's tenth goal with 10:55 left in the third quarter form an assist by Oliverio.
 
The Presidents shut out Thiel in the fourth quarter and extended the final margin to 12-5 as Tribeck and Strain each found the back of the net once more.
 
Geister had six ground ball and a team-high four caused turnovers. As a team, W&J caused 12 turnovers with Grant Allison (Venetia, Pa./Caron Long Military Institute), Strain, Jake Duda (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township), Aidan Herman (West End, N.C./Pinecrest) and Deiulis each registering two CTs.
 
Henry Beardwood (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum School) earned the win between the pipes for W&J. The sophomore made nine saves in the victory.
 
W&J owned a 27-14 edge in shots on goal, a 42-27 advantage in ground balls and finished 14-of-21 from the faceoff spot.
 
The Presidents begin the conference portion of their schedule Wednesday evening against Franciscan.