Lynchburg, Va. -- University of Lynchburg senior Ryan Kenney tied a program record with nine goals on Saturday as the Hornets took down St. Mary's (Md.)

Playing through snow showers on Shellenberger Field, the No. 7-ranked Hornets looked to win their 14th-straight game at home. 

Kenney began the scoring for Lynchburg less than a minute into play. 

St. Mary's responded with two-straight goals. At the 11:37 mark, Jake Rust retied the score, and the Hornets never trailed again. Kyle Lewis and Riley Mitchel scored midway through the first, and Kenney secured a hat trick with two more goals before the end of the opening period. 

The Seahawks outscored the Hornets 4-2 in the first 9:00 of the second quarter. Their fourth goal of the period came 0:14 into a man-up opportunity. 

Kenney took over to stop the scoring run. He tallied two more scores and put Lynchburg up 10-6. 

Just before halftime, Lynchburg called a timeout to set up a play with 0:12 left. The play freed up Lewis, and the Suwanee, Ga. native took the ball, curled around the net, and scored 0:04 before the break. Lewis' second goal of the game put Lynchburg up 11-6. 

After St. Mary's opened the second half with a goal, the Hornets responded with four scores of their own. A.J. Nieves netted a goal 0:50 after the Seahawks followed by Jake Rust. Lewis handed out his fourth assist of the day on Rust's goal. 

With 10:42 to go in the third, Lynchburg's goalie Patrick Moore heaved a shot  down field and scored as the Seahawks goalie was caught out of the net. 

Kenney followed up Moore's goal with his sixth score of the afternoon. 

St. Mary's quickly made the score 15-8 early in the fourth quarter, but once again, Kenney answered right back with a goal. 

Giffin Cooling followed Kenney up with the second goal of his career on Grant Voigt's fourth-career assist. Kyle Lewis secured his second hat trick of the season to put Lynchburg up double-digits, 18-8. 

Kenney thrusted Lynchburg to the 20-goal mark with two more scores in 0:53 seconds. He is the first Hornet to score nine goals in a game since Mike Marchetti did it against Western Maryland in 1994. 

Lewis assisted on Kenney's final two tallies which gave Lewis six assists on the day and nine points. Lewis and Kenney are the 10th and 11th players in program history to record nine points in a game. Lewis enjoyed his second-career six-assist game marking the sixth time a Lynchburg player has dished out six assists in one contest. 

The Hornets held their opponent under ten goals for the fourth time this season and beat St. Mary's 20-9 for the second-straight time. 

Moore made five saves to go along with his goal, and Tyler Hadley saved a shot as well. 

Andrew Miller recorded a caused turnover while in net. 

Michael Kraus led the way on the dot with 17 faceoff wins and nine ground balls. Chris Darminio picked up eight ground balls. 

The Hornets (4-1, 1-0 ODAC) travel to Owings Mills, Md. for their next two games in the Mustang Classic. They take on Denison at Stevenson University on Friday, Mar. 18 at 11 a.m.

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--LYN--