Box Score For immediate release – 3/15/2016- #373
Stewart Scores Six; Sets LC Points Record as #14 Men's Lax Comes Back to Beat Endicott 14-12
LYNCHBURG, VA – The 14th-ranked Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team rallied for a 14-12 to win against Endicott College (MA) in a non-conference competition at Shellenberger Field on Tuesday night.
At one point the Hornets trailed 11-6 and were behind 12-10 before a three-goal streak from senior Aaron Murphy led the way late in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback. Following a key save from goalie Chris Hawley fellow senior Dane Angell capped it off on the other end with an unassisted goal of his own with 1:35 remaining in the game.
This wasn't, however, the first comeback LC needed to make in the contest. In the first quarter the Hornets trailed 4-1 after Endicott's Mitchel Tapley and Colin Bannon each scored a pair of goals. Attackman Austin Stewart added two more goals to his total to complete another first quarter hat trick and Joey Giannaras tied the game at four. As time was winding down to end the quarter, long stick midfielder Joe Vincent intercepted a pass and launched a shot beyond the midfield line and into the empty net at the sound of the horn to give LC a 5-4 advantage.
Endicott would score three and only allow Stewart to score once more in the second quarter to take a 7-6 lead into halftime.
The third quarter began with four more goals from Endicott to go up 11-6 before Stewart would stop the bleeding with two more goals of his own. Sean Ahearn scored his third man-up goal of the year to bring LC within two, but Bannon found the net once again to put the Gulls up by three, 12-9.
Angell, a midfielder, put in his first tally of the game with 21 ticks remaining in the third period prior to Murphy's big run in the fourth. The Hornets survived a three minute non-releasable penalty to begin the final quarter.
Hawley was tremendous in goal, making 14 saves on the night, many of them coming at crucial moments as the Hornet defense was resilient late in the contest. Murphy had three assists to supplement his goal scoring efforts.
Tommy Hughes was 21-29 facing off to go along with 12 ground balls and two scores for Endicott (2-4) as Bannon (4 g, 2 ast) and Tapley (3 g) fueled the Gulls on offense.
With 7:50 to go in the third quarter with his fifth goal of the game, Stewart (6 g, 1 ast) set the Lynchburg College record for points in a career. The previous record-holder was 2012 graduate and current graduate assistant coach Dylan Hoff.
Lynchburg (3-3) will travel to Maryland to take on a duo of ranked opponents at the annual Mustang Classic hosted by Stevenson University. They will play third-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and sixth-ranked York College (PA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
