Spectators filling the seats Sunday afternoon at Donald J. Kerr Stadium had to take a closer look to identify some of the players in the ODAC men’s lacrosse championship final.
In a rematch from three Saturdays prior, when host Roanoke College defeated Washington & Lee 9-8 in the regular season finale, the Maroons duplicated the one-goal victory by holding off a late Generals rush for the 10-9 Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship.
Roanoke made the decision to break out vintage old black jerseys from the 1992 Division III final four team. Only problem was that eight numbers worn by current players weren’t still in the mix when the black beauties were brought out of the mothballs.
Those eight boys simply grabbed at what was left, then took to the field to show it’s the play, not the jersey, that settles the championship.
Both teams scored twice in the opening quarter before Roanoke got its offense in gear to take a 7-5 lead to the halftime break.
The Maroons looked to be taking control after they increased their cushion to 9-5 midway through the third, but the Generals answered with two straight to cut the deficit to 9-7.
With just under thirteen minutes left in the game, freshman Will Pilat took a nifty pass from the right side, wheeled from point-blank range and buried a score that put Roanoke ahead 10-7. The General goalie never had a chance on the shot.
Virtually everyone in the packed Kerr Stadium expected a final push from the Generals, in what has become one of the top rivalry matchups in ODAC lacrosse.
Nobody was disappointed.
W&L cut the Maroon lead to 10-9, but a late penalty on the Generals enabled Roanoke to run out the clock before the boys in black swarmed the field to celebrate.
Roanoke had several offensive stars including senior attacker Richard Lachlan’s 4 goals, along with a pair of scores from senior middie Mike Hayden and senior attacker Conner DuBois. Freshmen rounded out the Maroon scoring with Tyler McWilliams finding the net along with Pilat’s score that ended up being the eventual game-winner.
Maroon goalie Charles Pease stood tall in the pipes for Roanoke, making 14 saves, none bigger than a highlight reel effort after Roanoke had gone a man down with 2:01 left on a slashing penalty.
For Will Pilat, a Hidden Valley High School grad, he will have a special memory from the win. Being one of the eight victims of the missing number jerseys, Pilat donned #37 in place of his normal #25. That number was the same one wore by his father, current Roanoke head coach Bill Pilat, during his days as the Maroon goalie in the early 80s.
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