VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (March 24, 2007)—Hampden-Sydney's lacrosse team won their first Old Dominion Athletic Conference game of the season as they defeated Virginia Wesleyan College, 10-7, on Saturday. Senior Michael Via (Virginia Beach, VA/Norfolk Academy) returned home and had a solid performance, scoring two goals and recording two assists, to help the Tigers to victory. With the win, the 17th-ranked Tigers improve to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in the conference, while the Marlins fall to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in the ODAC.
Hampden-Sydney scored two goals in the first three minutes of the game and went on to build an early 4-1 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, the Tigers added two more goals before the Marlins were able to notch their second goal of the game. Leading 7-2, the Tigers seemed to be in control until a failed clear attempt led to a Marlin goal, making the halftime score 7-3.
The Tigers opened the third quarter with a Thomas Jennings (Murfreesboro, TN/Webb School) goal, but the Marlins answered with two goals of their own, cutting the Tiger lead to three, 8-5. The Tigers pushed the lead back to five goals, 10-5, but with five minutes remaining on the clock, the Marlins began to make a late surge. Virginia Wesleyan was able to score two goals, making the score 10-7 with 2:13 remaining. Despite numerous man-up opportunities in the final minutes, the Marlins were unable to beat the Tiger defense, giving H-SC the 10-7 victory
Jennings led the Tigers with three goals, while Michael Via scored two goals and dished out two assists. Kelly Mattie (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) notched two goals, recorded one assist, and grabbed six ground balls. Mark Miller (Esmont, VA/Monticello),Andrew Mahoney (Littleton, CO/ Littleton), and Ryan Harrington (Dallas, TX/Plano)scored one goal each.
Goalie Scott Russell (Darien, CT/Darien) recorded 15 saves on the day, while the rest of the Tiger defense did a good job of stopping the attacking Marlins.
Hampden-Sydney will return to action on Monday, March 26, as the Tigers will host Union College at the Hellmuth-Pritzlaff turf field. The game is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm.
