Hornets Runners-Up to Tufts After NCAA Men's Lacrosse Title Game Loss

Hornets Runners-Up to Tufts After NCAA Men's Lacrosse Title Game Loss

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. --- The Tufts University (MA) men's lacrosse team captured its second-straight NCAA Division III Title Sunday with a 19-11 victory over Lynchburg College in the championship game of the Division III Championship Tournament. The contest was held at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.

Hornet junior Austin Stewart led off the second quarter with his 108thgoal of the season, setting a new NCAA record (all divisions) for goals in a season.

Control of the ball proved crucial, as the Jumbos won 24 of 34 face-offs with Conor Helfrich taking 23 of his 31 attempts. He also scooped a game-high 13 ground balls and scored a goal en route to earning the Most Outstanding Player Award for the championship game.

LC started the game on fire with the first four goals, with two tallies from Todd Galvin and one each from Dane Angell and Cole Barrett. Tufts answered with five-straight goals, two from John Uppgren, to assume a 5-4 lead after the first period.

The Jumbos answered Stewart's record breaker with three-straight goals, and added two more after Galvin's third goal of the game to take a 10-6 lead into halftime. Tufts won 15 of the game's 18 first-half face-offs, including 11 in a row at one point.  

The Hornets couldn't close the gap in the second half, as TU outscored LC 6-2 in the third period and never looked back.

Aaron Murphy finished his junior season with three goals and two assists. Galvin posted three goals and one assist and Stewart had two scores. Dane Angell had a goal and an assist and Harrison Brennan also scored. Junior Chris Hawley made a career-high 20 saves.

The loss breaks a 19-game winning streak for the Hornets.

Uppgren finished with four goals and four assists while Cole Bailey added three goals and four assists. Zach Richman, Garrett Clarke and Peter Gill each had two goals and Alex Salazar made 13 stops between the pipes.

LC finishes the 2015 campaign with a 21-3 record, setting program records for wins, winning streak and goals in a season. This was the team's first final four and national championship game appearance.

"Congratulations to Tufts, they played a great game and were the better team today," said LC head coach Steve Koudelka. "We had an awesome year, and as a program we'll have the opportunity to build off this and be even better in the future. What this team and this senior class has been able to accomplish is incredible and will be a building block for future teams."

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