The Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team defeated Virginia Wesleyan College Sunday afternoon 12-6 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship game on Shellenberger Field. Lynchburg will now advance to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid.
The Hornets travel to Chestertown, Md., Sunday, May 11, for a 1:30 p.m. second-round game in the NCAA Division III tournament against Washington College.
LC opened an early 2-0 lead 1:59 into the contest. Lynchburg's offense went cold and Virginia Wesleyan took over, scoring the next five goals - two from Jordan Kenney and two from Drew Langis - to take a 5-2 lead with 10:08 left in the second quarter. LC grabbed momentum going into the second half, scoring the final two goals before intermission. Lynchburg goalie Garrett Curran delivered a major momentum changer, grabbing a groundball and running the length of the field to score an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Lynchburg defense took command of the game in the second half. LC tied the score with 11:14 remaining in the third, however, VWC went back up 6-5 off a Brett Morris goal with 5:54 left in the third. LC held the Marlins scoreless for the rest of the game as LC would finish the game on a 7-0 run and secured the lead for good with 2:55 left in the third quarter.
Lynchburg was led by Tyler Tolson's three goals and two assists with Norby King winning 15 of 21 face-offs and scooping up 12 groundballs. Michael Mundorf scored once and dished out three assists and Kyle McGuire found the back of the net twice. Stephen Weis contributed with one goal and one assist and Garrett Curran recorded 12 saves and 10 groundballs.
Drew Langis and Brett Morris each had two goals and one assist for the Marlins (10-7) while Jordan Kenney had two scores and Maicin Dunk contributed with two assists. Goalie Tom Skartsiaris stopped 16 shots and grabbed seven groundballs for the Marlins.
Lynchburg out shot VWC 42-32, tallied 44 groundballs to 32 for the Marlins, and won 15 of 22 face-offs. LC was successful on 15 of 22 clears while VWC was 22 for 24. VA Wesleyan was 0-3 on extra-man opportunities while Lynchburg was 1-3.
Lynchburg finishes the regular season 16-2 and undefeated in the ODAC.