General Chaos! W&L Upsets Salisbury, D-III Men's Semifinals Set

Washington and Lee hadn’t beaten Salisbury since 2013. And that was a February game. In fact, W&L had never beaten Salisbury in May — ever.

That all changed in Saturday’s NCAA Division III men’s quarterfinals, as Hillis Burns netted the game-winner in overtime to down the top-ranked, defending champion Sea Gulls 16-15.

Final 4 Bound.

— W&L Men’s Lacrosse (@generalsmlax) May 18, 2024

It was a furious rally by Salisbury that even made overtime possible. After Washington and Lee scored six-straight third-quarter goals to turn a three-goal deficit into a three-goal lead, Luke Nestor scored twice and Jack Dowd scored with 34 seconds left to equalize at 15.

The game was the textbook definition of a seesaw affair. Tied at 1, Salisbury scored seven in a row. Then W&L scored four of five. After Dowd fed Chris Wong to make it 11-6 in favor of the Sea Gulls, the Generals scored three in a row to make it 11-9. Ty Keaton put Salisbury up 12-9 before Washington and Lee completed shifted the momentum with the six-goal run.

Burns, W&L’s hero, led the Generals with four goals and one assist. Tyler Spano contributed a hat trick (all three in the second half) and won 20 of 33 faceoffs. Nick De Cain made 12 saves.

RIT 19, Christopher Newport 15

RIT scored in bunches when it needed to most, depositing five straight goals in the third quarter and four straight in the fourth quarter to down a potent Christopher Newport team 19-15.

Jake Erickson led the offensive barrage with four goals and four assists, while Luke Pilcher (four goals, three assists) and John Mozrall (four goals, two assists) weren’t far behind. Andrew Cook scored five, Brett Jackson scored four and Alex Brendes had three goals and three assists for Christopher Newport.

Christopher Newport controlled the first quarter, leading 7-3, but RIT quickly closed the gap by opening the second quarter with goals from Mozrall, Ethan Harkins and Erickson. The Captains maintained a one- or two-goal lead throughout the second quarter, though.

It wasn’t until that 5-0 run in the third quarter that RIT seemingly took control. Starting with the first goal in that run, a Clifford Gaston feed deposited by Pilcher, RIT scored 10 of the final 14 goals.

Bowdoin 12, Middlebury 7

For the first time in program history, Bowdoin is headed to the NCAA semifinals.

The Polar Bears dropped six consecutive goals in the fourth quarter, turning a 6-6 tie into an 12-6 lead over 11:30, flummoxing the Panthers’ defense. But Bowdoin’s defense did work, too. Robert Hobbs made three saves during that run, and Middlebury turned it over three times — two of them caused by the Polar Bears.

Jason Lech led Bowdoin with five goals, including four of the six game-changing tallies. Ethan Barnard won 14 of 20 faceoffs, and Hobbs made eight saves.

Tufts 16, St. John Fisher 6

Tufts blitzed St. John Fisher in the first half, taking a 9-1 lead into the break on the strenght of a 7-0 second quarter and coasting in the second half.

Jack Regnery led the Jumbos with four goals and one assist, while Brooks Hauser and Max Ettinghausen both had two goals and one assist. It was a typical Jumbos offensive onslaught, has Tufts outshot St. John Fisher 57-38.