Owings Mills, MD – The 14^th-ranked Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team had a strong third quarter to get past #6 York College (PA) 9-7 in a non-conference contest held at Stevenson University on Saturday afternoon.

The snow and sleet was falling in Maryland and may have hindered the scoring efforts of both teams to start, but in the end it wasn't enough to stop Lynchburg from handing an impressive top-ranked York team its first loss of the season.

After the first quarter of play the Hornets trailed 1-0 following a goal from the Spartans' Hunter Davis three minutes into the contest.

York would score again at 10:41 in the second period to take a two-goal lead.  Shortly after, Lynchburg's Austin Stewart got a pass from Aaron Murphy and found the net to put the Hornets on the board at 10:17.  Junior midfielder Harrison Brennan followed that with a goal of his own just over a minute later to even the game at 2-2, a score which would remain until halftime.

The Hornets took that momentum into the third quarter where they scored three-straight goals to open the second half and take a 5-2 advantage.  Murphy got things started with his second tally of the game two minutes into play.  He then followed that with a pair of assists, first on a man-up goal for freshman Evan Lombardo and second on a score for Chris Cornelius.

Thomas Pfeiffer briefly stopped the bleeding for York, but Lombardo scored again off an assist from Stewart to increase the lead to three for the second time.  Austin Glab of the Spartans found the net with 25 seconds left in the third to bring his team within two heading into the fourth quarter.

Feeling the momentum swing, York got two more goals past the Lynchburg defense to tie the game at six apiece with 13:40 to go in the final period.

The Hornets, however, would not be denied as Stewart fueled the beginning of a three-goal run when he got a pass from Lombardo and got by the Spartan net-minder.  Stewart assisted senior Jacob Fuller a minute later to give LC a two-goal edge, and Murphy added another goal with a couple minutes left giving the Hornets a 9-6 lead.

York would score once more to give the game a 9-7 final score.

The Lynchburg defense (eight caused turnovers, 8/9 second half clears) was stout and sharp when it mattered most late in the competition.  Senior Goalie Chris Hawley stopped 11 shots total, including eight in the second half.

The attack line of Murphy (2 g, 3 ast), Stewart (2 g, 2 ast), and Lombardo (2 g, 1 ast) were involved in all but one of Lynchburg's goals.

York (7-1) is coached by former LC standout and graduate assistant Brandon Childs ('04), who was a two-time USILA All-American and three-time All-Conference player during his time in Lynchburg.

The Hornets (4-4) return to Lynchburg to resume Old Dominion Athletic Conference competition next Saturday at 7 p.m. against Washington and Lee University.