By Louis Galdos
Elm Staff Writer
The men’s lacrosse team is working their tails off to ensure a spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
On Tuesday, April 17 the Shoremen took on visiting Muhlenberg College. Senior Tyler Powers had a career high of seven goals to help propel the team to a 14-8 win.
Just 1:26 into the game, Powers put the Shoremen on the board. The Mules tied it up with 12:51 left in the first quarter. With 11:58 left, Washington College was able to score three goals within 78 seconds.
The first one came from Powers with an assist from senior Tanner Barbieri. Twentwenty-five seconds later, junior Casey Grieves fed senior Peter Jacobs the ball, allowing Jacobs to score. Grieves then took the ball himself and went for a solo shot to finish the trio.
“Our energy level was unbelievable,” Grieves said. “Coach (Jeff) Shirk talked before the game about focusing on two things, attitude and effort. I think we did just that. It made everyone lock in and focus on doing their job.”
The second quarter started with two goals from the Mules, with 7:53 left. Jacobs and Powers had back-to-back goals with 3:17 left. WC led 8-4 going into the third.
Powers scored two goals, making it 10-4.
The Mules got one back with 9:46 left in the third. Grieves and Jacobs scord one each, sandwiched between a Muhlenberg goal to end the third 12-6. Both teams went on to score two goals apiece in the fourth to end with a 14-8 WC victory.
Powers had seven goals, Greives and Jacobs had three goals and an assist each. Freshman Sean Reilly notched a goal for himself, while sophomore Cooper Sloan and junior Trey Ritter had two assists each. Barbieri and senior Austin Hepburn III had one assist apiece. Senior Ben Flood saved eight goals while allowing eight in 60 minutes.
“Obviously, any conference game is tough, any team can beat you on any day,” senior defensemen Graham Hulsey said. “I think Tuesday night showed that when we take a deep breath and focus on ourselves we can beat any team in our conference.”
On Saturday, April 21, WC hosted No. 10 Franklin & Marshall College. They lost 20-13.
Saturday’s game against the Diplomats started off quickly, with F&M scoring first. Powers cut the 2-0 lead to one with a goal at 6:36 and would diminish the lead 25 seconds later with another goal. The Dipolomats scored another two goals, ending the first quarter 4-2.
Ritter started the second quarter off with a goal, bringing the deficit to one. With 11:02 to go, F&M went on a 4-0 run, ending with only 6:10 left until half time. The Diplomats went into half time leading 9-5.
Barbieri found the back of the net 53 seconds into the third, then Powers scooped in to feed a ball to Jacobs to cut the lead to 9-7. With 12:10 left, F&M scored another two goals, giving them an 11-7 lead.
Barbieri cut that to 11-8 with 8:13 to go, but only 102 seconds later the Diplomats got it back. WC would trail 14-9.
The fourth quarter started with three goals from F&M and outscored WC 6-4 in the quarter.
Powers had three goals and two assists, while Grieves and Jacobs both had two goals and one assist. Barbieri had two goals on the night. Junior Charlie Walker and senior Sam Cloud both tallied a goal and an assist, while junior Kevin Trapp and Ritter were able to notch one goal apiece. Sloan was able to secure an assist, while Flood saved 18 shots on goal in 60 minutes.
On Saturday, April 28, WC will take on No. 3 Gettysburg College for their final conference game of the season. This will also be senior night, where all ten seniors will be honored.