For immediate release – 2/21/2016 - #303
Stewart Scores Six to Lead Men's Lacrosse over Franklin & Marshall 13-10

LYNCHBURG, VA – Senior attack Austin Stewart netted six goals to lead the Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team to its first victory of the season against Franklin and Marshall College in home non-conference action on Sunday afternoon 13-10. Senior attack Aaron Murphy set the school career record for assists after distributing four helpers on the afternoon, he now has 103 for his career. Brandon Childs '04 had the old record of 102.   

The two teams went into the final period of play tied at nine goals apiece, and a strong fourth quarter by Colin McGuire put the Hornets on top in the end despite multiple comeback attempts by the Diplomats throughout the contest.  McGuire, a sophomore attack, was a part of all four Lynchburg tallies in the final 15 minutes.  He started 10 seconds in, scoring off a pass from Murphy after a Bobby Distler faceoff win.  McGuire followed with an assist of his own, this time to Stewart just 50 seconds later.  Franklin and Marshall's Billy Schwartz scored at the 12:12 mark to bring his team within one, yet McGuire would find Stewart a second time to nullify the chance of a Diplomat comeback.  McGuire put the nail in the coffin on an unassisted score with 3:25 remaining to give LC its largest lead of the game.

Lynchburg opened the game with two goals, the first coming from freshman Griffin Thoreck, the first of his career, and the second by Stewart. F&M found the cage three times in a row to take a 3-2 lead after the initial period of play.

A pair of man-up goals from Murphy and Sean Ahearn along with tallies from Stewart and Harrison Brennan gave LC a 6-5 advantage heading into the intermission.

In the third quarter, four goals from F&M and three from LC (two from Stewart, one from Jacob Fuller) evened the score at nine.  Lynchburg's breakout fourth quarter led to the first victory in the Hornets' return to Shellenberger Field, continuing their home-turf winning streak.

Sean Rogers (four goals, one assist) and Mike Wasik (two goals) paced the Diplomats (0-1) in their season opener. Thomas Moore made eight saves in net for the visitors.

Senior goalkeeper Chris Hawley saved 11 for LC while Distler won the faceoff battle 16-11.

Lynchburg moves to 1-1 and will travel to Cabrini College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup.