Lynchburg wins ODAC Title-Pat Brown, former Legacy player, wins Tournament MVP

 LYNCHBURG, VA - The Lynchburg College men's soccer seniors have bookended their careers with Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championships. They won the title in 2006 and won the Championship today with a 3-1 victory over the archrival Maroons of Roanoke College and now LC earns the ODAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Today's comeback victory also marks the fifth time the Hornets have had to overcome a deficit to win the game. This is also the 12^th ODAC Championship in LC history and the second under head coach Chris Yeager who received a water cooler bath while fans rushed the field as the horn sounded to end the game.

The game was a tightly contested match pitting two teams with a combined 19 ODAC Championships. Lynchburg opened up strong and had several scoring opportunities, but Roanoke goal keeper Ryan Russell made several nice saves to keep the Hornets at bay. Roanoke would eventually draw the opening goal in the 24^th minute as Chris Collins made a run off a long pass down the middle and lofted the ball over the keeper into the left post. Each team stayed true to their game by playing exceptional defense to thwart a few good scoring opportunities to send the game into the half with the Maroons up 1-0.

The Hornets came out strong yet again to open the half, and it paid off for Lynchburg just 1:27 into the second stanza. A Roanoke foul allowed Josh Reed (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) to take a free kick from about 20 yards out. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Pat Brown (Legacy Alumni) redirected it to defender Zach Ward (Haymarket, VA/Battlefield) who tallied his first career goal as he put the ball into the left side of the net. A Cam Smith (Goode, VA/Jefferson Forest) free kick led to a Ward header that was inches away from crossing the goal line, but a Roanoke team save kept it a 1-1 contest at the 73:59 mark. However, Lynchburg would not be denied their second goal as just 29 seconds later, Ryan Renfro (Lynchburg, VA/Brookville) notched a header goal on a Reed corner kick to put the Hornets up 2-1. LC continued the second-half offensive explosion as freshman Scott Colman (Yorktown, VA/York) proved his mettle for clutch scoring as he tallied his second career goal, his first coming in overtime against Hampden-Sydney in the regular season, as he converted on a Tony Dulak (Dumfries, VA/Forest Park) free kick to give the Hornets a comfy 3-1 lead.

Lynchburg (16-2-2) outshot Roanoke (12-6-4) 19-8, including 10-4 in the decisive second-half, and also notched five corners to just two for the Maroons. Russell has a solid game in net, recording six saves while Matt Sturdivant (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) posted three saves.

Lynchburg College will find out it's NCAA Tournament fate early next week. Please check the LC athletics website at www.lynchburg.edu/athletics for more information as it becomes available.

All-tournament team:

#1 Ryan Russell, RC
#3 Taylor Johnston, RC
#16 Chris Collins, RC

#8 Matthew Rowe, LC
#14 Hunter smith, LC
#15 Stephen Legg, LC - (Legacy Alum)
#4 Pat Brown, LC - Most Outstanding player - (Legacy Alum)