Lynchburg, Va. -- The Lynchburg men's lacrosse team honored the 1999 NCAA Tournament team pregame but ultimately fell in a back-and-forth battle with visiting Washington and Lee 10-9 Saturday night on Shellenberger Field.
In a game that was never separated by more than two goals in either team's favor, the 10th-ranked Generals prevailed for the second straight time in the series. It was the third straight one-score game between the two teams and the 13th since 1999.
Washington and Lee started the scoring early, striking less than three minutes into the contest. Lynchburg answered with back-to-back goals from Riley Hastings to give the Hornets a 2-1 advantage that lasted into the second quarter.
A 3-0 run from the visitors swumg the advantage once more in the third of seven lead changes in the game. Spencer Vandenberg and Dylan Wolfe bookended a fourth W&L goal in the quarter to cut the deficit to one for the Hornets.
Alex Brown, the leading scorer for the Generals, was inches away from extending the lead back to a pair with six second remaining before Tyler Hadley stepped in to make the save and preserve the one-goal deficit at the half. Hadley made nine saves in a full 60 minutes of work.
Michael Kraus evened the score 5-5 a few moments into the third quarter on his first goal of the season after winning the first faceoff of the half. Kraus assisted on another for two points on the day but was part of a Lynchburg effort that went just 7-23 at the X. The Kraus goal was part of a 4-0 Lynchburg run jump started by the Wolfe goal at the end of the second.
Riley Mitchell scored his first home goal of the season to continue the run, and Liam Holman tacked on the fourth to give the Hornets their largest lead of the day at 7-5.
W&L battled back once again with a pair of goals before Parker Sealey recorded his first career tally to give Lynchburg a slight advantage at 8-7 entering the fourth quarter.
The Generals outscored Lynchburg 3-1 in the final period to claim the victory. Lynchburg has been outscored 20-9 in the fourth quarter against ranked teams this season and has seen two leads slip away in the final period.
Lynchburg had a chance with six seconds remaining to attempt an equalizer but was unable to get the shot off before the horn.
Riley Mitchell led Lynchburg with three points in a game that featured seven different goal-scorers.
The Hornets went 90% on the clear, outshot the Generals 37-33, and committed just 14 turnovers to Washington and Lee's 23. The Lynchburg defense caused 13 turnovers, the third time in the past four games forcing 10 or more.
Lynchburg (6-5, 3-1 ODAC) will look to rebound on the road against Randolph Wednesday, April 10 at 4 p.m.
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