NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Trailing by eight early in the fourth quarter, the Christopher Newport men's lacrosse team battled back and scored six times in the last period, but Hampden-Sydney held on for a 13-10 triumph on Saturday afternoon at Everett Stadium.
 
Leading the way on the offensive end, Ryan Mills scored four goals, including three times in the final five minutes. Drew Magnusson and Will Geise also contributed hat-tricks, while Matthew Crist handed out three assists.
                               
On the defensive end, Matt Hayden made 13 saves for the Captains, while Jake O'Connell forced a pair of turnovers and collected three ground balls. Nick Kirschke also scooped up three rollers and won five faceoffs.
 
With the setback, Christopher Newport falls to 1-2 on the season, while Hampden-Sydney improves to 3-1.
 
After Hampden-Sydney scored early in the fourth quarter to snatch a 12-4 advantage, the Captains settled in and began to fight back. Magnusson kicked off the surge with a bullet before the Tigers added their final tally. Still trailing by eight, Christopher Newport pieced together a sustained run to make things interesting.
 
In just over 60 seconds, Mills drove home a strike off a feed from Crist before Geise capitalized on a pass from Shane McKenna to close the gap to six. Shortly thereafter, Mills and Crist teamed up for another goal before Magnusson ripped a shot with a minute left to pull the squad within four at 13-9.
 
Fighting until the bitter end, William Gingerich secured a ground ball on the ensuing faceoff to gain possession before Mills scored his final goal with 13 seconds left. Unfortunately, despite the epic comeback bid, time ran out on the Captains as HSC secured the 13-10 victory.
 
Overall, Hampden-Sydney held a 43-32 edge in shots and a 33-18 lead in ground balls. The Tigers also won 15 of the game's 27 faceoffs and successfully converted 11 of their 14 clear attempts.
 
Although Christopher Newport battled back at the end, the hosts stormed out to a commanding lead early on. Despite Geise's first goal in the opening quarter, the Tigers tossed four on the board to snatch a 4-1 lead. In a sign of things to come, the Captains quickly shot back early in the second.
 
Following a clear by O'Connell, Mills kicked off his afternoon with a dagger to cut CNU's deficit in half. Two minutes later, after Tony Cruz won the ensuing faceoff and Conor James pounced on the loose ball, Randy Foster found Magnusson for the squad's third strike to pull back within one at 4-3.
 
Unfortunately, Hampden-Sydney retaliated and strung together the final three goals of the first half to snatch a 7-3 lead entering halftime. Following the break, the hosts added three more tallies to push the lead to 10-3 with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter.
 
After Christopher Newport whistled for a timeout, the squad settled in for a solid run. O'Connell and Drew Cornell forced a pair of turnovers to frustrate the Tiger attack, while Crist and Foster just missed the mark with a pair of shots on the other end. Although Hampden-Sydney eventually broke through again, Geise quickly answered with a goal of his own to cut the deficit down to 11-4 entering the fourth.
 
Sadly, the deficit was too large to overcome, and despite a resilient effort in the final frame, HSC held on for the victory.
 
Christopher Newport will return to action on Wednesday when the squad kicks off its home season with a 7 p.m. battle against Virginia Wesleyan.
 
---CNU---