GETTYSBURG, Pa. --- Trailing 9-2 midway through the third period, the fourth-ranked Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team scored nine-straight goals to post an improbable 11-9 victory at #2 Gettysburg College Saturday in an NCAA Division III Semifinal Tournament matchup. LC advances to its first NCAA title game in program history to face the winner of RIT/Tufts for the Division III crown.

Junior attack Austin Stewart netted four goals, all in the 9-0 run, to tie the Division III record for goals in a season with 107. The Bullets led 9-2 at the 8:36 mark of the third period before Lynchburg started its comeback.

After an hour lightning delay before the game got underway, Aaron Murphy scored his 200th career point to start the action, but Gettysburg rattled off three-straight scores to take a 3-1 lead. Chris Cornelius found the back of the net to make the score 3-2.

Following another lightning delay, this time of an hour and eight minutes, the game was restarted and GC extended the lead to 4-2 at the end of one period.

The Bullets out-scored Lynchburg 3-0 in the second period, and Jameson Smith and Jimmy Morris each ended the first 30 minutes with two goals.

Gettysburg scored the first two goals of the third period, but LC answered with three-straight tallies from Stewart, Murphy and Colin McGuire to cut the GC advantage to 9-5 entering the fourth period.

The Hornets rode the momentum with early fourth-quarter scores from McGuire, Murphy and Daniel Owens to cut the lead to 9-8 with 12:19 on the game clock. Stewart gave Lynchburg a 10-9 edge with back-to-back goals to complete an eight-goal run over an 11-minute span. Stewart added an insurance goal with 36 seconds left to tie the NCAA record for goals in a season with 107 on the year. He finished with six points (4g, 2a), while Murphy posted three goals and an assist. McGuire scored twice and had an assist and Bobby Distler won 13 of 24 face-offs and scooped four ground balls.

Morris finished with a hat trick for Gettysburg (20-1) and Smith had two goals and two assists. Sean Fumai and Bijan Firouzan each had two scores.

Gettysburg led 39-28 in shots.

Lynchburg (21-2) moves on to the national title game with its 19th-straight win, held in Philadelphia, PA at Lincoln Financial Field next Sunday, May 24 at 4 p.m. RIT faces Tufts tomorrow at 2 p.m. for the right to face the Hornets in the finals. Ticket information will be available later in the day on Sunday.

--- This release is courtesy of the Lynchburg College sports information department. ---
athletics.lynchburg.edu