The Bahamas, California, maybe Jamaica; these were some places that Spring Breakers from Washington College went last week.
The men's lacrosse team, on the other hand, had to stick around Chestertown to practice and play a few games.
The Shoremen had a tough schedule over break, but managed to pull ahead as they won the three games against Nazareth, Messiah and Roanoke.
At the time of their first contest, Washington was ranked fifth while Nazareth was ranked third in Division III lacrosse. This soon changed, however, as the Shoremen made a statement in the game and won 18-7. This was a big change compared to last year's game where the Shoremen lost to the Golden Flyers 8-4.
Senior attackman Jon Fellows led the team with five goals and five assists.
In the opening quarter, sophomore As Nazareth drew first blood,Brent Renner's goal off an assist from Fellows, evened out the game. It was not until the second quarter that the Shoremen started picking things up as they scored the first three goals, all unassisted. Fellows scored two of these goals and senior Brad Hopkins scored the other. At one point in the second quarter, the Shoremen scored three goals within 38 seconds, which gave them an enormous lead.
Freshman netminder Alex Pirani made nine saves in the win. Washington outshot Nazareth, 49-30, while also holding an advantage in groundballs (55-38) and face-offs (17-9).
The Shoremen then traveled to Durham, North Carolina where they played against Messiah at Duke University. At that time, the Shoremen had improved their team ranking to third, nationally.
Messiah was another success as the Falcons fell 12-6.
Washington got on the board right away as Fellows scored off an assist from junior Eric Kuehn within 24 seconds of play. Messiah responded right away, but Kuehn answered them back as he scored an unassisted goal. By the end of the quarter, the teams were tied 3-3.
The Shoremen opened up the second quarter with a 5-3 lead as Rentch and Fellows both scored. these scores were followed with two more from Hopkins in the end of the first half. During the third period the Shoremen brought the lead to 9-3, and in the final stretch, they outscored Messiah 3-1.
Once again, the Shoremen dominated their opponent outworking Messiah in shots and ground balls, 37-26 and 26-25, respectfully, and the teams were even at 10 face-offs won apiece. Pirani added seven saves in the effort.
Washington then ended their roadtrip by traveling to Salem, Virginia to take on Roanoke. An exciting and "edge-of-your-seat" game, the Shoremen outlasted Roanoke, 13-12.
Pirani helped the team with 16 saves and Fellows totaled nine more points to help lead the Shoremen against the Maroons.
Washington started scoring early as Fellows scored of a pass from Rentch within the first 54 seconds of play. At the end of the period, the Shoremen had a 3-1 lead and at the end of the half, they had a 6-3 cushion.
In the third period, Fellows scored again off an assist from Rentch and junior defenseman Jeremy Shannon scored off an unassisted tally following a won face-off by Hopkins. This increased the lead to 8-3, but the Maroons followed it by two second half rallies.
Roanoke cut the five-goal lead to one in just three minutes and 12 seconds. It was followed by a few goals on Washington's side, and at the end of the third period, the Shoremen were ahead, 11-8. In the final quarter, however, Roanoke got a second burst of energy and scored two goals in the final seconds to bring the game's total to 13-12, Shoremen.
Roanoke outshot the Shoremen, 44-36, but Pirani had a stellar performance in the goal as he stopped 16 blistering shots.
Tomorrow, two-time Division II National Champion Limestone College returns to Kibler Field in attempts to defeat the fast and furious Shoremen, a feat that they have yet to do since 2000.
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