Men’s lacrosse tops Shenandoah

By JOSH STALEY

Staff Writer

On Saturday Feb. 17, The University of Mary Washington men’s lacrosse team went face to face with Shenandoah University in their third game of the season. UMW improved to 2-1 after this exciting game at the Battleground Complex.

The Eagles started out strong by jumping ahead to a staggering 5-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. Mary Washington immediately took the lead when junior Conor Healy scored the first goal. Behind Healy, Chris White scored two goals, followed by Kieran Burns, and Cole Hogan who each added one. Shenandoah got their first goal six minutes into the quarter.

Ben Byrne and Healy scored two more during the second quarter. Shenandoah got another goal more with two minutes remaining. As the second quarter came to an end, junior Shane McKenzie gave the Eagles one additional goal with nine seconds to spare, making the score 8-2 in UMW’s favor.

Twelve seconds into the third quarter Byrne made his second goal of the game putting The Eagles up 9-2. With 14 minutes left in the quarter, White scored his third goal of the game with an assist from McKenzie. Shenandoah added another goal making the score 10-3 with UMW still in the lead. McKenzie then scored his second goal of the game putting the score at 11-3. The Hornets, with 6 minutes in the third quarter, made another goal, 11-4. Mary Washington took the last two goals making the score 13-4 at the end of the quarter.

Just a minute into the fourth quarter, Sean Tuite scored his second goal followed by Davis Perkins with twelve minutes left. With these two goals, the lead grew to 11. Freshman Jamin Lane scored his first goal of the game with nine minutes left. Shenandoah scored two more goals throughout the last quarter bringing the score to 16-6. With 11 seconds left in the game, the Eagles took the win with Bryant Baus scoring the last goal of the game making the final score a dominant 17-6.

Mary Washington lead in shots, ground balls, and face offs won. 42 of the 67 shots were by the Eagles, while the Hornets only had 25. The Hornets had a total of 30 ground balls and the Eagles had 45. Of the 25 faceoffs, Mary Washington took 14.

Mary Washington showed an overwhelming amount of support this Saturday, as the stands at the Battleground Complex where full of students, faculty, administration, and family members of the players.

“The Eagles played such an amazing game” said junior Shyan Murphy. “I’m happy to see how well we did against Shenandoah,” said Murphy.

“These guys are phenomenal!” Dean Rucker replied when asked how he felt about the game. “The play is excellent. Their defense and the way they distribute the ball is incredible. The Eagles are awesome!”

The University of Mary Washington men’s lacrosse team will be back on the field on Saturday Feb. 24, as they travel Pennsylvania to play against Ursinus College.