LEXINGTON, Va. --- The No. 13 Washington and Lee University field hockey team advanced to the second round of the DIII NCAA Field Hockey Tournament with a 3-0 win over Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday afternoon.
The Generals (17-2) scored twice in the first quarter and again in the third to defeat the Battling Bishops (16-3) at home to record Head Coach Gina Wills' 100th victory at WLU.
Tess Muneses (Howard County, Md./ Glenwood) tallied the game winning goal just 2:53 into the contest off a Freddie Tobeason (New York, N.Y./ Groton) feed from the top of the circle.
Abby Long (Kansas City, Mo. / Pembroke Hill) only needed to make one stop in goal thanks to the defensive unit of Jordan Hoover (Harvard, Mass. / Bromfield), Jenny Lerner (Mount Pleasant, S.C. / Georgetown), Grace MacDonald (Bluemond, Va. / Foxcroft) and Paige Mammorella (Louisville, Ky./Manual). The squad held the Bishops, who average just over 23 shots per contest, to four shots all day.
The OWU offense went into Wednesday's game with 57.4 percent of their attempts being on target for 3.28 goals per game. The defensive shutout was the tenth of the season for the Generals.
Kailey Fitzgerald (Chevy Chase, Md./ Georgetown Visitation) initiated the opening goal with a midfield tackle and led her pass perfectly through several defenders to put Tobeason into an open position for a feed, her 13th on the season. Muneses sent her shot into the lower left corner for her seventh score of the year.
Senior forward Peyton Tysinger (Norfolk, Va./ Norfolk Academy) added an insurance goal nearly five minutes later. She tapped the ball across the goal line after a Fitzgerald shot was stopped by the OWU keeper. Tobeason collected the loose ball and passed the ball off to the left where Tysinger was alone on the back post for an easy redirection and WLU's second goal.
Alexis Parks (Arlington, Va. / Washington-Lee) tallied the third mark 14 minutes into the second half. Fitzgerald challenged keeper Meg McCarthy with a long shot off a OWU green card restart. The initial shot attempt was saved and kicked out for a clear, fortunately for W&L fans, the ball landed on Park's stick who was able to direct the ball opposite of the goalie's position for her 14th score of the season. Parks joined Tobeason and Tysinger as the only Generals with 30+ points during the 2022 campaign.
The Blue and White owned an 18-4 advantage in shots and a 12-1 shot on goal differential. Fitzgerald recorded a contest-high seven shots with five of those on frame.
McCarthy kept the Bishops in the game with nine stops and Cayla Homsher tallied a defensive save for Ohio Wesleyan. Veronica Hardman took all four shots for the visitors on Wednesday afternoon.
WLU had a slight 5-3 edge in penalty corner attempts.
UP NEXT
The Generals advance to pod play this weekend hosted by No. 1 Salisbury University. The Blue and White will face the No. 8 Williams College. The Ephs took down Johnson and Whales 8-0 in the first round contest on Wednesday night to advance in the pod.
The winner of the York College and DeSales University game will play SU, the recipient of an opening bye, in the four-team pod for the second and third round games.