For immediate release – 5/7/2016 - #524
LC Men's Lacrosse Holds on for 16-14 win over Roanoke in ODAC Semis

SALEM, VA – The fourth-seeded Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team opened a seven-goal lead and held on to upend #1 Roanoke College 16-14 in the semifinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament.

Roanoke went ahead 3-1 in the early going, but four-straight goals from LC, two from senior attack Austin Stewart, gave the Hornets a 5-3 advantage. Following a Maroon goal, three-straight tallies from Evan Lombardo, Bobby Distler and Stewart left Lynchburg with an 8-4 lead after one period.

LC netted two goals in just a seven-second span early in the second quarter, as Chris Cornelius and Aaron Murphy made it a 10-4 game and cap a 9-1 surge. The team's traded goals to push the score to 12-6 midway through the second period. Joey Giannarras netted a man-up goal for LC to go up 13-6, but Roanoke scored the last three goals of the half to cut the deficit to 13-9 at intermission. LC had nine different goal scorers in the game's first 30 minutes.

Roanoke controlled the third period, scoring three-straight times to close a 6-0 run and cut the LC lead to just 13-12. Stewart posted his fourth goal to stop the streak and Lynchburg led 14-12 entering the final period.  

Lombardo scored his third tally of the game to make it 15-12, but Roanoke's IV Stucker countered with back-to-back goals to pull back within one with under five minutes to play. Stucker went for his third-straight score a minute later but Chris Hawley made the save and LC gained possession. Cornelius netted a huge goal at 1:19 from Stewart to add to the lead and a  late Roanoke shot hit the post and Lynchburg was able to run out the clock.

Stewart finished with four goals and an assist, Murphy and Cornelius each had two goals and two assists, while Lombardo had a hat trick. Colin McGuire had a goal and two assists, Dane Angell scored a goal and had an assist and Ryan Kardux also found the back of the net.

LC won 22 of the game's 33 face-offs and Bobby Distler was 19-of-30 with a game-high eight ground balls. Joe Vincent scooped five ground balls, and Hawley made 13 saves.  

Stuckey had four goals and an assist for the Maroons (13-5). Tyler McWilliams scored three times and Colin Mackenzie had two tallies. Ian Davies made 12 saves and only allowed five goals, playing 39 minutes off the bench.

Lynchburg (12-7) goes onto to face second-seeded Washington & Lee University in Sunday's championship game at 2 p.m. in Salem. The Generals defeated Hampden-Sydney College 14-6 in the day's other semifinal. Roanoke looks to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

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