Lexington, Va. -- Ryan Kenney, Kyle Lewis, and Riley Mitchell all had hat tricks as the 11th-ranked University of Lynchburg men's lacrosse team cruised to victory Saturday in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference semifinals. The Hornets topped archrival Roanoke, 17-9, in the second of two tournament games Saturday at Washington and Lee University's Wilson Field.

The Lynchburg victory sets up a date with fourth-seeded Hampden-Sydney in Sunday's 2 p.m. championship after the Tigers upset top seed and host W&L in the first semifinal.

After the game started to the tune of a 2-2 score, Lynchburg's Mitchell and Chris Darminio scored goals in a 45-second span to take a 4-2 lead that held until the first quarter's end.

The Hornets took control of the game in the second when, nursing a two-goal lead, face-off specialist Michael Kraus won the bout and streaked down the field, finding the back of the net for his first-career goal. It sparked a 4-1 run, and Lynchburg never looked back. The Hornets led 10-5 at halftime.

Lynchburg put the game away with four unanswered goals in the third and cruised to the win.

Kraus was stellar at the face-off all game, winning 17 of his 29 attempts, and Tyler Hadley saved nine of the 18 shots on goal sent his way. Lewis finished with two assists to go with his two goals, extending his single-season assists record to 56 this year, and A.J. Nieves (two goals) and Dylan Wolfe (one goal, one assist) also turned in multi-point efforts.

Sunday's championship game against Hampden-Sydney will be the third meeting between the two teams in the ODAC championship. Each has taken one meeting, Lynchburg in 2014 and the Tigers in 2017.

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--LYN--