GAMBIER, Ohio -- Despite holding a lead throughout most of Wednesday's contest, the Kenyon College men's lacrosse team could not withstand a final push from the Aurora University Spartans, resulting in an 18-15 defeat.

After the teams traded early goals to end up locked at 4-4, Kenyon junior Pierce Kraft pushed the Lords ahead by one with 2:17 remaining in the first quarter. The Lords would not relinquish lead until there was 10:12 remaining in the fourth period. At that point, Aurora's J.K. Torres scored to tie the game at 13-13.

During time spent with the lead, Kenyon forged ahead by as many as five goals. That margin came with 5:36 left in the third quarter and the score set at 13-8. The Lords carried a two-goal lead at the half (9-7) and a three-goal lead (13-10) into the final frame.

Aurora then score three goals in the first five minutes of the final frame to tie things back up. Nearly four minutes passed before Ian Griffith put Kenyon back out in front with 6:19 left on the clock. Aurora was quick to answer with two goals of their own, one from Torres again to tie and another from Ryan Griffin, his first of the year. The Griffin goal gave the Spartans their first lead since the 9:56 mark of the opening quarter.

The Lords would respond on a goal from Emilio Sosa to tie the game back up at 15-15 with 2:49 remaining, but on the ensuing faceoff, the Lords were assessed their third faceoff violation of the quarter, resulting in a man-up opportunity for the Spartans.

Aurora (5-1) would capitalize on the penalty and take the lead back 23 seconds later on a man-up goal from Matt Sammarco. The Spartans added an insurance goal by when Torres completed his hat trick with 1:20 remaining.

Kenyon (1-2) won the next faceoff, but was unable to register a shot before a turnover in the final minute of play ended the Lords' hopes of forcing overtime. The Spartans went on to score one final time with six seconds remaining.

Individually, the Lords got multi-goal efforts from six players. Griffith led the way with four goals and Sosa added three. Robert Jacobs, Chris Ferraro, Alex Lopez and Kraft all chipped in with two a piece. Jacobs and Jonah Florence shared the team lead with three assists. Goalkeeper Reed Levesque recorded 16 saves in the loss.

Trevor McNamara paced Aurora offensively with four goals, while Torres had three assists to go along with his three goals. Guarding the net, Tyler Lombardi collected 14 saves in the victory.

Next up, the Lords will head to Maryland to take on Franklin and Marshall College on March 12 with the opening faceoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. That game will be played on a neutral-site field at St. Paul's School.