After suffering a season-opening loss to Messiah, the Washington and Lee University men’s soccer team hasn’t been beaten since.

Instead, they have won eight games this season and tied the other three. The Generals have responded well despite losing six starters from last year’s team. The team is tied for seventeenth in the country, with three goals scored per game.

Weyimi Agbeyegbe, ’25, has spearheaded the Generals’ offensive attack from a new position. Agbeyegbe leads the team in goals (8) from the forward position after winning rookie of the year in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) playing on the wing last season.

One of the biggest question marks coming into the season was the Generals’ backline. The Generals graduated both starting center backs and their starting goalkeeper. Those three — Jack Rawlins, Seth Chap-man and Michael Nyc — played over 200 career games in total.

Rawlins was a first-team All-American and Nyc held the program record for shutouts at 24. Center backs Charley Colby, ’23, and Tyler Smith, ’23, have come out strong in the 2022 season ahead of first-year keeper Will Joseph, ’26.

Colby and Smith, along with starting outside backers P.J. Ryan, ’25, and Will Luik, ’25, have held opponents to just over six shots per game. W&L is outscoring their opponents 33-13.

W&L is just one year removed from the best season in school history that saw the team advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships. The Generals also earned the number one national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches poll for the first time in school history at the end of September 2021, a ranking they held the rest of the season.

They also set numerous records, including the most goals scored at 70, and the longest unbeaten streak to start a season at 16 games.

One accomplishment the Generals couldn’t check off the list was an Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship. The Generals received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after falling late in the semi-finals to Randolph College.

Washington and Lee has won three ODAC championships under Head Coach Mike Singleton, who is now in his ninth season with the team. The team has started strong in conference play with the goal of winning the ODAC title this season. The Generals are 4-0-1 in the conference following a draw with Lynchburg on Oct. 5.

Lynchburg has won the tournament in back-to-back years and holds one of the biggest homefield advantage in the conference, but the Generals were able to walk away with a point.

W&L returned home Oct. 12 after playing four out of its last five games on the road. The team will face off against Virginia Wesleyan, Averett and Randolph College before hitting the road again.