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Lloyd Strikes in 62nd Minute to Give VMI 1-0 Win over Washington & Lee

LEXINGTON, Va.- Michael Lloyd's goal in the 62nd minute gave VMI a 1-0 win Tuesday afternoon at Patchin Field in the 33rd annual meeting between the VMI Keydets and the Washington & Lee Generals.

Lloyd's goal came when a W&L defender passed the ball back to his goalie, Ted Sheedy, who slipped when trying to clear the ball. Lloyd, charging the ball the entire time, took advantage by chipping the ball just past the outstretched arms of Sheedy to net the game's only goal.

“W&L played extremely well, they made it very hard for us to create, they defended very well, and they did a real good job on Charles Nweke,” said VMI head coach Stephen Ross. “We were lucky that we got a good goal, Mike Lloyd was scrapping for one and earned one. We didn't play poorly, W&L just did a real good job of taking the game away from us.”

The win for the Keydets (6-4-1) was their 12th in the rivalry and second consecutive, compared to Washington & Lee's (3-3-3) 17 victories in the series. The teams have tied four times in the series that has been played every season for the last 33 years.

“It's a pretty big rivalry, there's no love lost between the two teams,” continued Ross. “I thought it was a fairly clean game, it's been a long-standing tradition for the teams to play, it's a fairly even match. We've had some years when we were a much stronger team, and they kept it close, and vice versa. It's a good rivalry and the guys get up for it.”

VMI's Thomas Upton needed only one save to preserve his second shutout of the season. Sheedy tallied three saves in the contest.

VMI got off only six shots in the contest, compared to four for W&L. The Generals were called for 16 fouls to the Keydets five, while W&L got off three corner kicks, including two in the last minute, to VMI's two.

VMI's 6-4-1 record marks their best start in 15 years. In 1990, the Keydets stood at 6-3-2 after 11 contests on their way to the program's last winning season at 9-7-2.

The Keydets return to action Saturday afternoon, when they travel to Asheville, N.C. to take on the Big South Conference leaders, UNC-Asheville. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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