BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The nationally-ranked Hampden-Sydney College lacrosse team posted a 14-9 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) win over Bridgewater College on the road Saturday afternoon from the Jopson Athletic Complex in Bridgewater. The Tigers improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the ODAC while the Eagles fall to 0-2 overall and in the ODAC.
Senior Jack Hayden/Apex, NC led the Tigers with five points (three goals, two assists) with classmate Jared Medwar/Apex, NC finishing with four goals.
Just 2:30 into the game, Medwar found the back of the cage for his first goal of the contest with an assist from senior Reilly French/Frederick, MD. Bridgewater would answer just 51 seconds later after winning the faceoff to even the score at 1-1. The Tigers won the ensuing faceoff, and 27 seconds later senior Jake O'Brien/Scituate, MA score his first goal at 10:54. Sophomore Nick Thompson/Midlothian did not waste much time to put the Tigers up 3-1 when he scored his first goal at 10:25 left in the first quarter. The Eagles pulled within one at 8:08, but three unanswered goals by Medwar (4:37, man-up, assist by French), senior Charlie Doetzer/Holly Springs, NC (3:59, assist by Garrett Patnesky/Raleigh, NC), and Hayden (2:01, assist by Doetzer) pushed the lead to 6-2 in favor of H-SC. Bridgewater scored with five seconds left in the period to close in at 6-3.
The Tigers would see goals by Medwar (12:33, assist by Hayden) and junior Grayson Ackaway/Virginia Beach (12:18, assisted by Patnesky) in the second quarter. However, the Bridgewater defense kept the Tigers off the scoreboard the remainder of the first half while the Eagles scored three goals of their own to pull within two at 8-6 heading into halftime.
The third quarter was all Tigers with Hayden scoring back to back goals at 11:58 (assisted by Ray O'Brien/Scituate, MA) and 11:48 (assisted by Jake Brummett/Glen Rock, PA) to open the frame with Medwar scoring as time expired to extend the Tigers lead to 11-6. H-SC started the fourth period where it left off in the third with O'Brien's second goal of the game at 13:28 off a pass from Doetzer. Bridgewater answered with a pair of goals before Brummett won and took the faceoff at 12:08 and fired a goal at 12:00, his second of the season. One minute and 20 seconds later, Thompson scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Jake O'Brien. With just 1:25 left in the game, the Eagles scored, but the Tigers picked up the 14-9 win.
Will Perry/Roanoke picked up his second win of the season making 12 saves while playing 59:19. Brummett went 15 for 25 on faceoffs while making a team leading nine ground balls. Perry finished with six ground balls while Canevin Wallace/Annapolis, MD had five. Nine different Tigers had at least one caused turnover, led by Nick Morgan/Issaquah, WA with three and Henry Hitt/Annapolis, MD with two.
The Tigers led Bridgewater in shots (47-34), shots on goal (28-21), clears (25 for 28 – 24 for 29), ground balls (42-34), and faceoffs won (15-10).
No. 20 Hampden-Sydney returns home on Tuesday, March 23 when it hosts the University of Mary Washington in a non-conference match-up. The game against the Eagles gets underway from Hellmuth-Gibson Field at 7 p.m.
