GAMBIER, Ohio – Baldwin Wallace University (3-0) edged the Kenyon Lords lacrosse team by a 17-16 score on Thursday in a non-conference tilt at McBride Field.
 
The Yellow Jackets, who did not lead until the final margin, appeared to have their one-goal advantage erased at the buzzer. A shot from Sam Humphrey went in but officials ruled it deflected off a teammate, negating the tying score.
 
Early on, Kenyon (3-1) had the upper hand against the Yellow Jackets. With the score tied at one apiece, Nick Vitale keyed a 5-0 stretch with two goals and an assist as the home squad went up 6-1 at the 1:33 mark.
 
The visitors added a goal at the end and that sparked them to tie the score by halftime.
 
Early in the second, Mike Nanosky assisted on two of Baldwin Wallace's three goals, cutting the score to 6-5. The Lords went up by two, 7-5, a bit after as Vitale found Humphrey at the 6:44 mark.
 
After that, the Yellow Jackets scored a trio of man-up goals with their last coming from Ben Kubiak with 13 seconds left. That goal tied the game at 8-8.
 
Competition was dead even in the third as each team scored five times, including two in the final 1:17 from Chad Steinwachs and Blake Bower. Those tallies once again knotted up the score. Baldwin Wallace also got some help from goalie Nate Karatas who denied five Lords shots in the period.
 
Fourth-quarter action started with a bang for Kenyon. Patrick Coughlin delivered a highlight-reel goal just 10 seconds in before Will Harrigan scored from the left side, pushing the Lords in front 15-13. Vitale then added his third goal of the game at 10:51 on a man-up opportunity. The senior's score had Kenyon up 16-14.
 
After that, Kenyon's offense couldwas out-shot 8-4 and it committed three turnovers.
 
Steinwachs tied the game at 16 with 7:15 left before he assisted on the go-ahead goal, this one on another man-up opportunity to Drew Braden with about four minutes remaining.
 
The Lords did have two looks before Humphrey's negated shot at the buzzer. Emilio Sosa and Harrigan fired with less than 17 seconds left, but Karatas stopped both. The Yellow Jackets goalie ended up with 15 saves by game's end.
 
Kenyon will try to bounce back when it visits Haverford College on March 9 at 3 p.m.