Lynchburg, Va. -- The University of Lynchburg men's lacrosse team fell in overtime against Christopher Newport on Saturday night. 

The 11th-ranked Hornets took on the top-ranked and undefeated Captains under the lights on Shellenberger Field in a thrilling game featuring five lead changes. After tying the game with two-tenths of a second left in regulation, the Captains took down the Hornets 14-13. 

The Hornets faced an uphill battle right off the bat as the Captains netted four-straight goals to begin the game. CNU's Alex Brendes scored all four of the Captains' goals. 

The Hornets earned a man-up advantage late in the first, and Spencer Vandenberg stopped CNU's run with a goal on an assist from Riley Hastings. 

Hastings scored a goal of his own as time expired in the first, but the Captains held a 5-2 lead after one. 

The Hornets quickly started mounting their comeback in the second. Finn Schmidt scored one minute into the second, and Vandenberg tied the game up with back-to-back goals. Hastings and Riley Mitchell assisted on the freshman's two-second quarter goals as the Glenview, Ill. native notched his second-straight hat trick. 

After a sixth-CNU goal, Schmidt tallied his second of the day to retie things at 6-6. 

CNU's Andrew Cook, a Tewaaraton Award watch list player, gave the Captains a 7-6 lead as the two nationally-ranked teams went into halftime. 

Neither team got on the board in the opening half of the third quarter. Mitchell took the first shot on goal of the third from either squad 7:44 into the resumption of play. Schmidt broke down the door shortly after with his third goal. The freshman from Catonsville, Md. tallied his second-straight hat trick. 

The Captains rebuilt a four-goal lead by the 12:06 mark of the fourth. 

Once again, the Hornets displayed their grit storming back to take a lead. 

Mitchell, the reigning Old Dominion Athletic Conference player of the week, ignited the comeback with a snipe from long range. Jake Rust assisted on Mitchell's laser, and scored on a man-up opportunity as well. 

Chris Darminio scored on a breakaway after Michael Kraus won his 13th faceoff of the night. 

Kraus caused a turnover during the five-goal run, and Vandenberg picked up the ground ball in front of the cage. He buried his fourth goal of the night tying the game at 11. 

Rust scored Lynchburg's fifth-straight goal, and gave Lynchburg's its first lead of the night with 4:57 to play. 

Tyler Hadley made three huge saves helping make Lynchburg's second four-goal comeback of the game a reality.

CNU tied the game up momentarily until Grant Voigt sent the packed track around Shellenberger Field into a frenzy with a goal late in the fourth. The Hornets held the lead after Voigt's score for the final 1:38 until Cook slipped past Hadley with two-tenths of a second left in regulation, stunning the Lynchburg faithful. 

Kraus won the faceoff to begin Lynchburg's third overtime game of the season. The Hornets had two possessions in the extra stanza and earned a man-up opportunity with 39 seconds left in the first overtime. However, CNU's Brendes snuck behind the Lynchburg defense and buried his fifth goal of the game right in front of the cage and lifted CNU over the Hornets 14-13. 

Lynchburg (7-4, 3-0 ODAC) returns to ODAC play on Wednesday, April 5 at Shenandoah.

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--LYN--