Lynchburg, Va. -- After falling one goal short of capturing the 2023 Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's lacrosse championship in its own backyard, the Lynchburg men's lacrosse team finished the job to claim the 2024 crown on Shellenberger Field with a 13-8 victory over Randolph-Macon Saturday afternoon.

The title is the program's third in the past four years and the 10th in program history. Lynchburg has appeared in 18 conference title bouts since the championship game format was introduced in 2002.

With the victory, Lynchburg owns the ODAC's automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, placing in the 38-team field for the 12th season in a row. The streak is the longest in ODAC history and one of the longest active streaks in the country.

After a 3-4 start to the season, the 15th-ranked Hornets own an 11-1 record since March 24 and enter the NCAA Tournament on an eight-game winning streak. 

They punched their ticket to the championship game by knocking off No. 20 Roanoke Thursday evening, sending them to their 10th-consecutive conference championship game. Randolph-Macon pulled upsets over both Hampden-Sydney and top-seeded Washington and Lee to reach its first championship game in program history.

The Yellow Jackets were denied a third-straight upset and the program's first ODAC Championship courtesy of another stellar performance by the Lynchburg defense, which held Randolph-Macon to a tournament-low eight goals. 

It was only the fourth time the Jackets were held to single digits this season, with one of the other occasions occuring in the regular season matchup with Lynchburg. Lynchburg, on the other hand, has held opponents under 10 goals 11 times this season and is 11-0 in those games.

Seven different players combined to create 10 caused turnovers for Lynchburg.

Jake Rust bookended a 6-2 run to open the game in the first quarter with a pair of goals. Riley Hastings scored twice in the quarter and picked up an assist to secure the first three points of a five-goal, six-point day. The sophomore from Alpharetta, Georgia set a new career-high for both goals and points with the effort and has scored at least two goals in four-straight games.

Randolph-Macon threatened another comeback by starting the second quarter on a 4-0 run that featured five saves in goal by Yellow Jacket goalkeeper Jack Twomey. Twomey had 12 saves in the game.

Riley Mitchell and Hastings responded by netting consecutive goals to give Lynchburg an 8-6 boost going into the locker room. Hastings' third goal of the day came with eight seconds remaining in the half.

Grant Voigt scored the goal that became the game-winner to put Lynchburg up 9-6 early in the third quarter before the Hornets scored twice more to make it a 5-0 run.

Lynchburg held Randolph-Macon scoreless in the third quarter, repeating the feat it accomplished against Roanoke on Thursday. Lynchburg has outscored opponents 9-1 in the third quarter across its past three games.

Avery Tankersley scored two more goals in the fourth quarter for Macon, but Lynchburg answered the bell each time to secure its third bell-ringing in the past four seasons.

Fifth-year midfielder Dylan Wolfe shedded off double-team after double-team, knocking Yellow Jackets down around him while attempting to run out the clock before finally scoring the game's final goal with 61 seconds remaining to seal the 13-8 win. 

Wolfe had three goals and an assist in the game and nine total points in the tournament, earning him a spot on the all-tournament team. Lynchburg captured four spots on the team in total as Wolfe was joined by Hastings, Henri Marindin, and Tyler Hadley.

In what could be his final game on Shellenberger Field, Michael Kraus put together arguably the best game of his career, going a season-best 17-22 (77.3%) at the X while scooping up 12 ground balls. Steve Ulrichs led defenders with six ground balls and finished with a line of eight ground balls and four caused turnovers in the tournament.

The NCAA Division III Tournament selection show will take place Sunday, May 5 at 9 p.m. as Lynchburg will await its destination and opponent for the bracket.

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--LYN--