DURHAM, NC - The third-ranked Washington College men's lacrosse team improved
to 4-0 this season with a 12-6 victory against Messiah College this afternoon
in a game played on artificial turf at Duke University. The Falcons fell to
1-3 with the loss.
WC got on the board first when senior attackman Jon Fellows (Millington,
MD/Kent County) scored off an assist from junior attackman Eric Kuehn (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) just 24 seconds into the game. Messiah responded with a
goal by Reed Hornburg, who scored off a feed from Jono Linebaugh with 11:19 to
play in the first. The Shoremen responded 25 seconds later when Kuehn scored
an unassisted goal. The teams exchanged another pair of goals before
Linebaugh scored an unassisted marker with 2:54 to play in the period to tie
the game at 3-3.
Messiah began the second quarter a man down due for three minutes to an
unreleasable illegal stick penalty. WC senior attackman Craig Rentch
(Annapolis, MD/Annapolis) scored a goal and assisted on another by Fellows
during the penalty to give Washington a 5-3 lead with 12:56 to play in the
second. Senior midfielder Brad Hopkins (Kennedyville, MD/Kent County) scored
two unassisted goals in the final 3:18 of the half, including one with nine
seconds remaining, to push the Shoreman edge to 7-3 at the break.
The Shoremen scored the first two goals of the third quarter as well.
Sophomore midfielder Stephen Berger (Jessup, MD/Mt. St. Joseph) rifled home an
unassisted goal with 13:21 on the clock and Rentch scored off a pass from
Hopkins with 9:25 remaining in the period to up the lead to 9-3. Messiah cut
the lead back to four on an unassisted goal by Linebaugh at 4:59 and a goal by
Alex Bitzer that was assisted by Dan Videon with 2:22 left, but that was as
close as the Falcons would get. WC outscored Messiah 3-1 in the final period.
Rentch finished with three goals and one assist for Washington. Fellows added
two goals and two assists, while Hopkins and Kuehn each tallied two goals and
one assist. Berger tallied one goal and one assist on the day. The remaining
Washington goals were scored by sophomore midfielders Randy Vane (Sparks,
MD/Gilman School) and Michael Dyal (West Palm Beach, FL/Hotchkiss School, CT).
Kevin Dennstaedt and Jono Linebaugh, who also notched an assist, each scored
two goals for the Falcons. Reed Hornburg and Bitzer each added a goal, while
Dan Videon contributed a pair of assists.
Chris Gilbert made 14 saves in net for Messiah, while WC freshman Alex Pirani
(Woburn, MA/Winchester/Bridgton Academy, ME) made seven stops.
The Shoremen return to action Saturday with a 1:00 pm game at Roanoke.
