CHESTERTOWN — Kept off the scoreboard for the opening 19 minutes and change, and tangled up in a back-and-forth game for the next 15 minutes, Washington ultimately found a way to put away Catholic in men’s lacrosse here on Saturday, 11-6.
The Shoremen won for the second game this week, bouncing back from a 16-15 extra-time loss at Randolph-Macon College on Feb. 28, to improve to 4-1.
After the two sides played to ties of 3-3 at halftime and 5-5 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Washington took the lead for good on junior Aiden Ventura’s goal from attack with 8:16 to play in the third.
Ventura kicked off a run of four straight goals — from four different Shoremen — that spilled over into the final frame.
Freshman attackman Burke Healy halted the Cardinals’ extended scoring drought of nearly 20 minutes, closing to 9-6 with 5:20 to play, but that would be the last score of the day for the visitors.
Sophomore attackman Nate Winters and freshman midfielder Jake Arcudi tacked on insurance goals at 2:24 and 1:33, respectively, as part of a 6-1 closing flurry to seal Washington’s fourth win of the early season.
Winters finished with a game high of four goals. Ventura and junior midfielder Jake Laubach scored two goals apiece, and Arcudi, sophomore attackman Talan Behler (four assists) and sophomore midfielder Luca Signorello each contributed a goal.
Sophomore midfielder Will Gilfillan was the top producer for the Cardinals with three goals and an assist.
Spotting their guests a 2-0 first-quarter lead, Washington’s men dented the scoreboard with 10:29 remaining in the half when Behler found Winters.
That touched off a 3-0 run that gave the Shoremen their first lead at 3-2 on Winters’ man-up goal — again from Behler — with 6:13 to play in the second quarter.
With 6.6 seconds remaining in the half, Gilfillan solved keeper Skeet Hine [13 saves] to send the teams into the locker room all tied up.
Laubach scored both of his goals in the third quarter, with helpers from Behler, to give Washington leads of 4-3 and 5-4.
Catholic pulled even for the last time at 5-all about four and a half minutes into the third quarter when Gilfillan scored unassisted to complete his hat trick.
NEXT: It’s spring break for Washington College, with most of the athletes traveling.
In men’s lacrosse, Washington will face off against Berry (3-2) on Tuesday, March 10 at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in Virginia. Curtis Gilbert ’01, a member of Washington’s 1998 national championship team, has been the head coach at Berry since September 2013.
Washington’s next home game is Saturday, March 14 against St. John Fisher. Game time is noon.
