College Men’s Lacrosse Final – Va. Wesleyan 12, Guilford 9

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Nathan Sheirburn controlled the draw circle and scored two second-half goals to help Virginia Wesleyan University to a 12-9 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) lacrosse win over visiting Guilford College Saturday.

Guilford held a 7-6 lead after Brennan Sweeney scored with 10:28 left in the third quarter, his fourth goal of the game. Sheirburn answered a little over a minute later to tie the game for the sixth and final time. The Marlins’ Cole Maguire tallied the go-ahead score with 6:49 left in the third. Sheirburn won the fourth quarter’s opening face-off and scored seven seconds into the period for a 9-7 Virginia Wesleyan advantage. Sheirburn also won the ensuing draw, which set up Thomas Potter’s unassisted goal 20 seconds later and capped a decisive 4-0 Marlins’ run. Potter’s score opened the game’s first three-goal margin, the largest for either team.

Connor Sweeney and Darren Wilhite netted fourth-quarter goals that got the Quakers (7-8, 1-8 ODAC) to within two scores, but Guilford drew no closer.

Andrew Johnson and Joey Rayman also scored twice for Virginia Wesleyan (9-7, 4-5 ODAC), which held a 60-41 edge in shots. Sheirburn collected a game-high nine ground balls and won 19-of-22 face-offs. Kyle Leeming went the distance in goal and made 11 saves.

Brennan Sweeney’s four goals marked a game high for Guilford. Connor Sweeney chipped in two goals and three assists for a game-best five points. Jack Rogers made 20 saves and collected a team-high four ground balls. Jake Dugal also made four pickups and caused two of Virginia Wesleyan’s 25 turnovers.

Coach Mark Crisco’s Quakers host the 20th-ranked University of Lynchburg Wednesday (4/24) at 3:00 p.m. in an ODAC match.