Elkins, W. Va. (Feb. 22, 2025)- The Virginia State University Men's Lacrosse team traveled up north to take on the Davis & Elkins Senators and came out with a 17-5-win marking win number two which exceeds last season's win total (1). Kalani Laughlin lead the team with four goals scored.
It only took 51 seconds into the game for Miles Jackson to find the back of the net. The following face-off was won by Jayden Reid and a shot from John Goebel was just saved by the Senators to keep it from being it a 2-0 game. The Trojans kept D&E without a shot for the first five minutes and after a Jackson shot went wide on the restart Donovan Elmore scored his first goal of the match.
Back-to-back shots for the Senators after a face-off win saw Jace Wiggins earn his first save then after the clear Jesse Goebel scored assisted by his brother John. With under four minutes left the Trojans added three goals in 30 seconds from Andre Bigham, Laughlin assisted by Travis McDonald and Laughlin again this time assisted by Reid. D&E would add a goal just before the end of the first period.
The second and third periods were tightly contested as it took seven minutes into the second period for someone to find a goal as John Goebel scored before the Senators scored two goals within 90 seconds of one another. Then with 54 seconds left till halftime Elmore scored in a man-up opportunity. The Trojans added the first two goals before the Senators answered and Laughlin added his third of the day with 3 minutes left in the third stanza.
With an 11-4 score heading into the final quarter the Trojans looked to continue their dominant performance. Elmore added another goal at the 11:42 mark. Then from 9:19-7:38 marks the Trojans scored four more times to make it a 16-4 advantage. The Senators added one more but with just under two minutes Bigham made the VSU lead 12 once more at 17-5.
The Trojans as a team went 15-25 in the face-off and Reid himself went 13-22 and collected a team high seven ground balls. Wiggins ended the game with the win and seven saves. VSU returns home Wednesday Feb. 26 against Greensboro College at 6 pm.
