BETHANY, W.Va. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men's lacrosse team rode a fast start offensively to pick up a 11-5 win over host Bethany College in the Presidents' Athletic Conference opener Tuesday afternoon at Don Ault Field at Bison Stadium.
The win improves W&J to 4-5 overall. Bethany, who entered the match winners of five-straight contests, is now 5-3 overall.
The Red and Black jumped out to an early lead behind a six-goal first quarter.
Paul Shook (Camp Hill, Pa. / Trinity) opened the scoring with an unassisted tally less than four minutes into the contest. The Bison countered with three-straight goals to forge a 3-1 advantage at the 5:40 mark of the first. W&J quickly answered with its own extended scoring spurt.
The Presidents ripped off five goals over the final 4:29 of the first quarter.
Sean McCaffrey (Silver Spring, Md. / Albert Einstein), Aidan Herman (West End, N.C. / Pinecrest),
Zach Mey (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette),
Parker Lucas (Delmar, Del. / Delmar) and Shook all scored during that stretch as W&J built a 6-3 lead after 15 minutes of play.
Carter Watts (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown) assisted on a pair of the first quarter scores.
Bethany scored the lone goal of a low-scoring second quarter to allow the home team to trim the W&J lead to 6-4 at halftime.
W&J registered all three goals in the third quarter to extend the lead to 9-4. Watts,
Nathan Petrarco (North Huntingdon, Pa. / Norwin) and Mey all found the back of the net during a strong third quarter for the Presidents.
A goal apiece by Shook and Lucas in the fourth quarter helped W&J finish off the conference road win.
W&J held a 47-28 advantage in shots and had a 13-6 advantage in face-off wins.
Shook finished with a team-best four points (3g, 1a) to lead the Presidents' offensive unit. Petrarco had five ground balls and two caused turnovers while
Noah Bracco (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) made 11 stops in goal.
Ronin Keane (Medford, Mass. / Arlington Catholic) matched the game high with seven ground balls.
W&J travels to Saint Vincent for a conference match on Saturday, April 1 at 11 a.m.
