VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Bridgewater College men's lacrosse team outscored Virginia Wesleyan, 5-1, in the fourth quarter to help push the Eagles past the Marlins, 14-13, in ODAC action at Birdsong Field on Friday night.

THE BASICS 
Final Score: Bridgewater 14, Virginia Wesleyan 13
Records: Bridgewater 5-10, 3-5 ODAC; Virginia Wesleyan 5-9, 2-5 ODAC

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game started with an early goal from Trevor McClelland not even 90 seconds into play off an assist from Grant Nyland to get the Eagles in front, 1-0. The Marlins ted the game just 40 seconds later off the stick of Sam Edwards. McClelland netted his second at the 7:25 mark of the period after rocketing a shot past the VWU goalie on a pass from Tyler Pinto to make the score 2-1.Luke Wendler and Riley Stewart connected for a goal and Grant Nyland scored unassisted to give BC a 3-1 edge with just under six minutes left in the first. Daniel Auxier scored with three minutes to go in the opening 15 minutes to cut the lead down to one goal for the Marlins and Parker Lucas knotted the game at 3-3 with just eight seconds on the clock to send the game to the second quarter in a deadlock.
• Wendler kicked off the second quarter with a goal with an assist from Drew Huber to push the Eagles back in front, but Ben Andrews tied things up again with back-to-back goals. Mark Sprague gave VWU its first lead of the night with a goal at the 7:11 mark of the second. Andrews completed an eight-minute hat trick as he scored again with 4:26 left in the half and the 7-5 lead held through to halftime.
• In the second half, Colby Smith scored less than two mniutes in to play after a quick shot off a pass from Nyland to cut the deficit to one goal, 7-6, but Auxier and Sprague led a three-goal scoring run to push the home side up by four goals at 10-6 with 10:01 left in the third. Ryan Lin scored, unassisted, to cut the deficit to three goals but once again, Auxier was there to add another goal for the Marlins two minutes later. Riley Stewart and Pinto connected for the Eagles as BC was able to get back within three goals, but Sebastian Reynolds tallied his first of the game to set the score at 12-8 with 4:46 left in the third. Stewart scored the final goal of the quarter with a strike at the 3:55 mark to keep the Eagles in the game at 12-9 as it went to the final quarter of regulation.
• Trailing by three goals as the quarter started, McClelland took the reigns of the team and scored his first of three goals in the final 15 minutes as he first beat the goalie at the 9:22 mark in an extra-man situation to bring the Eagles within two. Auxier scored only 14 seconds later, but it was the last goal the home side saw in the contest. McClelland scored again with 8:06 to go in the game and Wendler added a tally at the 5:26 mark after receiving a pass from Hayden Gourley. Pinto got in on the scoring at the 3:49 mark to tie the game at 13-13. The goal forced a timeout by the home team and Gabriel Alexander won the faceoff that followed that allowed the Eagles to get two shots on target that led to a pair of saves. Virginia Wesleyan was able to clear and got off a shot that was knocked aside by BC goalie Gabe Wallman and led to a second timeout from VWU. After the timeout, a turnover gave the Eagles posession and as BC cleared, a timeout was called to set up a play. Following the stoppage, McClelland netted his fifth goal of the contest off a pass from Stewart to give BC the lead, 14-13. Bridgewater won the faceoff that followed but a turnover gave the Marlins a chance. Sprague was able to get off a shot with under a minute left with a chance to tie the game that rung off the post and out of play. Off the restart, a turnover gave the Eagles the ball who were able to clear and hold possession until the final horn.

GAME STATS

• McClelland paced the team with a stellar five-goal game that included the game-winning goal late in the fourth quarter.
• Wendler also had a hat trick, while Stewart netted two goals. Pinto, Nyland, Smith and Linn all scored once. 
• Stewart and Pinto led the way with three assists,while Nyland and Huber each had two. Gourley also added in a helper in the win. 
• Alexander went a stellar 24-for-29 at the faceoff X and scooped up 14 ground balls.
• Wallman paced other players for BC with five ground balls, while Gourley snatched up three for himself. Stewart, Linn and Liam Santilli each had two apiece. 
• Santilli, Brennan McKeown and Aidan Bruehl all had one caused turnover.
• Wallman made five saves in the victory.
• Bridgewater out shot Virginia Wesleyan, 43-37, and had a 35-33 edge in ground balls. The Eagles were efficient in clearing attempts at a 15-for-17 clip and were 3-of-6 in extra-man opportunities.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater closes out the 2024 regular season with a matchup against Randolph-Macon on Wednesday, April 24, at 4 pm.