LEXINGTON, Va. – Despite a strong first half, the #5 seed Hampden-Sydney Lacrosse team fell in Sunday afternoon's Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship game, 18-7, to #2 seed and #11 nationally ranked Lynchburg.  The program earned the right to appear in the championship, their first since 2017, by previously upsetting the #4 and #1 seeds. 

Both teams had scoring opportunities to start the first quarter but were unable to capitalize on the fast pace.  However, after a Lynchburg turnover, Senior Bobby Clagett (Brandywine, MD) scooped up the ground ball and found Sophomore Michael Leone (Vienna, VA) on a fast break, for the first score of the game.  The Hornets would answer with a bounce shot into the net, to even things up at 1-1, as the shot clock was about to expire, and added a second straight score to claim the one goal advantage.  After a Tigers' shot clock violation, Lynchburg regained possession and converted a shot to increase their lead to 3-1.  However, with only 11.8 seconds remaining in the opening quarter, Sophomore Ray O'Brien (Scituate, MA) tossed a pass to Senior Sean Duffy (Ambler, PA) who drilled an outside shot, pulling Hampden-Sydney to within one goal, 3-2. 

The Tigers gained a man-up opportunity at the beginning of the second quarter, however they were unable to take advantage, after Lynchburg came up with a save on an outside shot.  On their next possession, though, Sophomore Patrick Saunders (Alexandria, VA) followed up a missed shot with a second chance opportunity to tie the game at 3-3.  Unfortunately, Hampden-Sydney would be called for a minor penalty, which allowed the Hornets to regain the lead, with 8:01 left in the half, and then they would grab a two goal lead as time was winding down, to take a 5-3 advantage into the half.

Lynchburg opened the scoring in the third quarter, but Leone, scored his second goal of the game, to pull the Tigers back to within two.  Unfortunately, the Hornets would win the face-off and take it down the field to answer and then follow that up with their eighth and ninth goals of the game, to grab their largest lead of the contest, 9-4.  Duffy stopped Lynchburg's run by scoring his 44^th goal of the season, to pull back to within four but, once again, the Hornets would answer, as they went up by five goals, 10-5.  A few seconds later, they were able to increase their advantage to six goals and then closed out the quarter with another, for the 12-5 lead.

Junior Kevin Marshall (Mt. Pleasant, SC) put Hampden-Sydney on the board first in the fourth quarter but Lynchburg quickly answered with three straight.  O'Brien cut the lead to seven after receiving a pass from Marshall, but as the shot clock was expiring, the Hornets would go back up by nine goals, 16-7, and then with less than five minutes remaining, they took a double-digit lead, 17-7.  Lynchburg were able to add one more goal and as the horn sounded, the Tigers would fall by a final score of 18-7.

Hampden-Sydney was led by Duffy and Leone, who finished the game with two goals each.  Unfortunately, Clagett suffered an injury in the second quarter and was unable to return to the line-up.  While the final score was not the outcome desired, the Tigers pulled together to avenge two regular season losses to Randolph-Macon and Washington & Lee on their way to the Championship game.  They conclude the season with a record of 13-7.