ASHLAND, Va. – After falling by one goal to Randolph-Macon a few weeks ago, the Hampden-Sydney lacrosse team entered Tuesday evening's quarterfinal game with a chip on their shoulder.  Behind four goals from Sophomore Ray O'Brien (Scituate, MA), fourteen saves from Senior Will Perry (Roanoke, VA) and seventeen caused turnovers by the defense, the Tigers came away with a 12-10 win over the Yellow Jackets, advancing them to this weekend's ODAC semifinals. 

Despite winning the face-off to begin the first quarter, Hampden-Sydney's offense gave the ball back to Randolph-Macon and they quickly took advantage of the turnover, getting the goal to go ahead, 1-0.  However, the Tigers leading scorer, Senior Bobby Clagett (Brandywine, MD), took the ball and tied the game at the 12:41 mark.  The Yellow Jackets would regain the advantage, but after another face-off win, Freshman Conor KIlfeather (Wyndmoor, PA) picked the ball up and fired it past the goalie to, once again, tie the game.  That was followed by Clagett's 54^th goal of the season giving Hampden-Sydney their first lead of the game and then eight seconds later O'Brien fed the ball to Senior Sean Duffy (Ambler, PA) to increase the lead to 4-2.  The scoring would continue as O'Brien spotted Freshman Griff Ray (Salem, VA) from behind the net for the Tigers 5th goal of the game and then Sophomore Michael Leone (Vienna, VA) added another score to take the four point lead, 6-2.  With time running out in the quarter, Freshman Campion White (Apex, NC) put one more on the board to give Hampden-Sydney their sixth straight goal, for the five point lead, going in the break.

The second quarter began with a Randolph-Macon penalty, but the Tigers turned the ball over allowing the Yellow Jackets to run out the penalty.  While the scoring slowed down, the Hampden-Sydney defense would not allow Randolph-Macon to capitalize on any opportunities.  With under seven minutes remaining in the half, the Tigers were called for a slashing penalty but the man-down defense took the ball away and converted a successful clear to keep the ball in their offense's stick, riding out the penalty.  However, after going over 23 minutes without a goal, the Yellow Jackets finally converted three straight scores, trimming the lead to 7-5, as the half came to an end. 
Randolph-Macon picked up where they left off, scoring a man-up goal to begin the third quarter but O'Brien would grab a rebound to stop Hampden-Sydney's scoring drought, pushing their lead back to 2 goals, 8-6.  Perry continued to turn away a number of shots, to only allow the Yellow Jackets one goal, helping his team keep the two goal advantage, as time expired in the quarter. 

Twenty-four seconds into the fourth, and final quarter, Junior Thomas Harry (Troy, VA) found O'Brien for their second straight goal, to increase the lead to 9-6 and then Duffy would score an unassisted goal five seconds out of a timeout, giving the Tigers the four goal advantage.  Hampden-Sydney scored their fourth in a row after Leone cut through the defense and fired a shot into the net, but Randolph-Macon answered with four straight goals, pulling to within 1 goal, 11-10.  However, after forcing a turnover, Duffy would run out the clock and score a goal as the horn was about to sound, sealing the win, 12-10.

With the victory, the Tigers picked up their 12^th win of the season and advance to the ODAC semifinals Saturday in Lexington, VA.  They will face #1 seed Washington and Lee, who they last faced on March 12, falling 14-8.  However this is tournament time and Hampden-Sydney will look to continue their quest for their first ODAC Championship since 2017.  Stay tuned to www.hscathletics.com for game time and updates.