For immediate release – 4/11/2015 - #406
Hornets Harness Control of First Place with Big Win over Marlins

LYNCHBURG, VA – After opening the game with seven straight goals, the #5 Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team bombarded Virginia Wesleyan College 19-5 on Saturday night.  The matchup between the top two teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) was delayed by two hours because of bus troubles for the visitors.

The first period started slowly with both teams struggling to get on the board.  Each team rifled shots with them missing the cage.  It took 12 minutes until the flood gates opened up for the Hornets.  A Marlins slashing penalty put LC on the man-up.  Aaron Murphy found Chris Cornelius with space and he finished for the first goal of the night.  The next goal came much quicker as Austin Stewart notched his first of the night at 1:21.

After forcing a turnover while killing a penalty to start the second, Lynchburg poured it on quickly.  Stewart scored his second at 13:31, and six seconds later Todd Galvin added to the lead off a Murphy assist.

Several minutes passed before the LC added to the advantage but it came quickly.  Harrison Brennan found Jacob Fuller for his first of the night at 5:26.  Shortly after, Chris Hawley made a stop and the transition worked perfectly as d-middie Luke Ernst hit defenseman Hunter Thompson on the break for a quick goal.  Dane Angell then fired in a shot with 3:23 to put LC up 7-0.  Joe Papetti found the back of the net to stop the run, but Galvin fired one in the back of the net on the man-advantage and Murphy followed suit in six-on-six to give Lynchburg a 9-1 lead at the half.

The third quarter saw no scoring to start the period until VWC committed another penalty.  Stewart notched his 11-straight hat trick on the man-up, which was followed by Colin McGuire's man-up goal less than a minute later, as Murphy assisted on his third of the night.  LC tallied three more in the next two minutes, as Angell, Fuller, and Stewart combined to put the Lynchburg lead to 14-1 with 4:06 remaining in the third. 

The Marlins stopped the run with a goal by Josh Currier, but Lynchburg responded with two more.  Stewart and Murphy scored the two, with Murphy and Galvin getting an assist.  Two more VWC goals cut the lead to 16-4.  However the Hornets scored three of the final four goals, as Sean Ahearn, Chris Camarca, and Danny Czerkawski notched tallies, and Shayne O'Brien and McGuire added assists.

Papetti scored three goals and Currier added two in the loss for the Marlins (7-4 overall, 4-1 ODAC).  Lynchburg really dominated the game in two different special teams' facets: man-up and the faceoff.  LC was perfect (5-5) after Marlin penalties.  Bobby Distler and Czerkawski combined to win 24 of 27 attempts, with Distler taking 19 victories, including picking up a season-high 11 groundballs.

Lynchburg (11-2, 6-0) will play a make-up game on Wednesday.  The Hornets final nonleague contest will come at Franklin and Marshall (5-6) with the game set to start 4 p.m.

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