The Lynchburg men's lacrosse team has appeared in 10 straight Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship games, winning five over that span and nine in program history. Randolph-Macon has never appeared in the title game. The two will play for a conference championship and a spot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Saturday, May 4 at 2 p.m.

For Randolph-Macon (15-4, 6-3 ODAC), a season which began with lots of promise courtesy of an 8-0 start fizzled a bit in the middle of the schedule as the Jackets lost four of their next seven to drop to 11-4, falling behind in the conference standings.

Coming off their worst defeat of the season – a 20-7 loss at the hands of Roanoke, the Lemon and Black circled the wagons to bounce back with wins of 15 goals and 19 goals against Bridgewater and Randolph, respectively, to end the regular season on a positive note. That two-game winning streak has quickly turned into four as the program picked up two of the biggest wins in its 53-year history in the span of three days to punch its ticket to Saturday's title bout.

In contrast to their foes from Ashland, Va., Lynchburg got off to one of its slower starts in recent history, staring down a 3-4 record entering a March 24 game against Virginia Wesleyan. The Hornets won that game, and then nine of the next 10, including the seven-game winning streak they are currently on to arrive in Saturday's title game. This will be their 18th appearance in the championship game, having participated in all but three of the 21 that have been contested since 2002. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind ahead of Macon's Will Robertson and Lynchburg's Michael Kraus meeting at the X on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Season So Far:

Randolph-Macon got off to a 7-0 start before the 2020 campaign was suspended due to COVID-19. That was the best start in program history prior to their 8-0 kickoff this season. Three of those wins came on the road, including a 13-9 victory over St. Mary's (Md.), who made the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Fast forward to today, where the Yellow Jackets are on a four-game winning streak that includes victories over No. 4 seed Hampden-Sydney and top-seeded Washington and Lee in the ODAC Tournament.

Lynchburg, on the other hand, has picked up four wins over ranked opponents this season, most recently against No. 20 Roanoke in the semifinals. The Hornets also have wins over Denison, Amherst, and Roanoke in the regular season. They have one loss since March 24 which came against defending conference champion Washington and Lee. They have outscored opponents 115-50 on their seven-game winning streak and had just one game in that span closer than four goals.

How Did They Get Here:

Macon entered the conference tournament as the No. 5 seed after finishing the regular season 6-3 in ODAC play. That meant that the Yellow Jackets had to win two games on the road as underdogs to reach the program's first conference championship game. That's exactly what they did. On Tuesday, the Jackets avenged a regular-season loss against No. 4 seed Hampden-Sydney with a 9-8 win. After trailing the majority of the game, the Jackets reeled off the game's final three goals, including the go-ahead tally by Bubba Bowen with 2:20 remaining to seal the upset. They had not beaten the Tigers since 2013 and were 2-25 against them over the past 27 meetings dating back to 1997.

Then on Thursday, Randolph-Macon pulled the upset of the tournament and the season knocking off No. 12 Washington and Lee 13-12. Trailing 9-3 late in the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets outscored the Generals 10-3 down the stretch, including six of the game's final seven goals. Austin Payne, who had a team-high five points in the game, scored or assisted on four goals over that span along with the eventual game-winner to give Randolph-Macon its first lead of the game with 2:43 remaining. The win handed W&L its first home loss of the season and ended its 15-game winning streak over ODAC programs dating back to last season. It was also the first time Macon has defeated the Generals since 1997.

For Lynchburg, it took just one postseason victory to reach the title game for the 10th straight year. The Hornets knocked off Roanoke for the second time this season, doing so in convincing fashion to the tune of a 12-6 victory. Lynchburg's defense stole the show as it held the No. 2 scoring offense in the country for the Maroons (19.0 goals per game) to just six on 11.8% shooting. Tyler Hadley anchored that unit with 15 saves and a .750 save percentage, his second-highest of the season against a ranked opponent. The senior has 62 saves in his past eight games with a .633 save percentage and 6.63 goals against average.

The top two scorers for the Maroons in Luke Kammerman and Luca Docking combined for two goals on 2-24 shooting including an 0-11 outing for Kammerman. Leading goal scorer Wyatt Whitlow was also held scoreless and got off just four shots. Despite spending 4:30 of game time a man-down, Lynchburg held the fourth-best man-up offense in the country at bay, at one point picking up a crucial second half stop while two players down. Lynchburg put together an 8-1 run to put the game away and seal head coach Steve Koudelka's 350th career win and extend their win streak against the Maroons to nine.

Players to Watch:

Randolph-Macon is led on offense by Jack Smith, whose 37 goals and 48 assists this year give him a team-high 85 points that rank second in the conference. Smith also leads the conference in assists and is the program record holder for points in a career. Payne, Bowen, and Avery Tankersley, support the offense while Mike Allen is the standout on defense. Allen has been named the ODAC defensive player of the week three times this year and has made the USILA Division III team of the week on three occasions as well. He leads the ODAC with 44 caused turnovers this season. Jack Twomey will start in goal for the Jackets while Will Robertson (third in the ODAC in faceoff percentage) will take the majority of looks at the X.

For the home team, Lynchburg is led by Jake Rust for the second straight season offensively. Rust has followed up a 41-goal season in 2023 with 44 and counting in 2024 as he is collecting 3.24 points per game. He had a team-high four goals against Roanoke and has boom potential with two games of six or more goals and eight games with hat tricks. Lynchburg is 7-1 when Rust scores at least three goals. Dylan Wolfe leads the team in points with 58 in his fifth season and Riley Hastings, Finn Schmidt, Spencer Vandenberg, and Riley Mitchell complement the deep Lynchburg offense. Defensively, Lynchburg touts a veteran bunch led by senior Dom Zingo and graduate student Henri Marindin. Zingo leads the team with 20 caused turnovers this season and has 56 for his career. Tyler Hadley leads the conference in goal against average and save percentage as a graduate student in goal and Michael Kraus will lead the way at the X for Lynchburg.

Opening up the notebook:

• Lynchburg is seeking its 12th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Lynchburg's current streak of 11 is already a conference record and one of the longest active streaks in Division III
• With 44 wins, the Randolph-Macon senior class is already the winningest class in program history. The victory over Hampden-Sydney was the 14th of the year and broke a program record for wins in a season.
• The Roanoke game marked the 10th occasion this season that Lynchburg held its opponent under 10 goals. They are 10-0 in those games.
• Randolph-Macon has finished with 10 or more wins five times in the last six complete seasons and was 7-0 in 2020. The Yellow Jackets had just two seasons with 10 or more wins from 1971-2017.
• Lynchburg has a 9-8 record in the ODAC championship with all nine of its conference banners coming since 2002. The Hornets are hosting the championship game for the second straight season after failing to do so from 2016-2022.
• Randolph-Macon has never reached the NCAA Tournament. A win would secure the league's automatic bid and make Randolph-Macon the fifth different ODAC program to appear in the NCAA Tournament.
• Lynchburg defeated Randolph-Macon 15-6 in the regular season meeting. Lynchburg is 31-1 against the Yellow Jackets dating back to 1994 but lost 13-9 in Ashland in last year's regular season meeting.

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--LYN--