Owings Mill, Md. -- The University of Lynchburg men's lacrosse team defeated Franklin & Marshall in a close matchup at the Mustang Classic Saturday.
The eighth-ranked Hornets snapped a two-game skid with a 13-12 victory.
Spencer Vandenberg scored in his third-consecutive contest to start the game. After the freshman's fourth goal of the season, both teams traded blows with two-goal scoring runs.
F&M scored twice, then Grant Voigt and Riley Mitchell scored back-to-back goals. The Diplomats answered back with two more goals of their own and took a 4-3 lead into the second quarter.
Voigt tallied his second point of the day on Jake Rust's goal to open the second and tie the game at 4-4. Finn Schmidt scored his first of the game shortly after Rust and gave Lynchburg the lead.
Franklin & Marshall never retook the lead again after Schmidt's tally, but the Diplomats kept things close. Tommy Garofalo tied the game up at 8-8 for F&M midway through the third. However, Voigt and Rust both grabbed their second goals of the afternoon to reestablish Lynchburg's advantage.
Lynchburg and Franklin & Marshall combined for five goals in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter and seemed to set up a high-scoring final period of lacrosse. However, with Lynchburg ahead by two, both sides went cold over the final 10 minutes. Tyler Hadley made two saves in the closing 10 minutes of the game and ended the day with 14 saves on 26 shots faced.
The Hornets presented F&M with a two-man-up opportunity with just over a minute left in the game. The Diplomats scored on the extra-man possession and clawed within one. With 21 seconds remaining, Michael Kraus won his 16th and biggest faceoff of the day. Lynchburg took a time out with eight seconds left, then held on for the narrow, 13-12 win.
Five different Hornets scored a pair of goals in the win, and Chris Darminio scored his first goal of the year. He also led the team with nine ground balls. Dom Zingo caused two turnovers.
Lynchburg (5-3) returns to conference play with a road matchup against No. 9 Washington and Lee on Saturday, March 25 at 2 p.m.
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