Tigers pick up win against Virginia Wesleyan
Junior Ray O’Brien scored five goals and added two assists to lead Hampden-Sydney College (H-SC) to a 20-3 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) lacrosse victory over Virginia Wesleyan University, Saturday night at Birdsong Field. Junior Michael Leone scored four goals and added one assist and senior Talmadge Hope scored three goals. Senior Nick Thompson scored two goals and added one assist. Freshman Patrick Hanes led H-SC with three assists.
Hanes led off after just 38 seconds, scoring off a solo effort. O’Brien got two goals in 1:26, the first off a Thompson assist and then the second off an assist from senior Kevin Marshall. Leone got his name in the score sheet, scoring off the Hanes, and he was followed up by a goal by Thompson off an O’Brien feed. Junior Patrick Saunders made it six straight goals before Hope closed out the corner with a goal from Hanes to make it 7-0 after 15 minutes of action.
Sophomore Griff Ray opened the scoring in the second quarter, finding the back of the net off the pass from fellow classmate Conor Kilfeather. Hope scored his second of the game off the pass from Leone to make it nine straight for the Tigers. The Marlins got one back before O’Brien scored his hat trick with 6:17 left in the second quarter. Leone found the back of the net with just 27 seconds left before the half, finishing off the pass from O’Brien to take an 11-1 lead into the third quarter.
Virginia Wesleyan opened the scoring in the third quarter at the 10:11 mark, before Hope got his hat trick at the 8:58 mark off the third assist from Hanes. Leone followed up Hope by scoring his hat trick goal just over a minute later off the Saunders pass, and O’Brien closed out the third quarter by scoring his fourth of the night off the second assist from Kilfeather.
O’Brien wasted no time in the fourth quarter to score his fifth, scoring a man-up goal just 10 seconds in off the Saunders pass. 19 seconds later, the Tigers struck again as Thompson found the back of the net after sophomore Gaines Weis found him. Leone then found the back of the net 11 seconds later for his fourth goal of the night to push the H-SC lead to 15. Virginia Wesleyan got one back before Marshall got a goal at the 9:10 mark. Freshman Davis Mack got his name in the goal column with 6:37 left in the game, as senior Max Koontz found him for the goal. Two and a half minutes later, Koontz closed out the scoring with a goal to give the Tigers a 20-3 victory.
The Tigers will be back in action on Wednesday, April 12 when they take on Guilford (NC) College in ODAC action. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Fulton Field at Lewis C. Everett Stadium.