The Oglethorpe men's lacrosse team fell behind in the third quarter Wednesday night in Montgomery, Alabama, against the homestanding Huntingdon Hawks. Despite a late comeback by the Stormy Petrels, the deficit proved too much in an 8-5 loss. The result dropped the Petrels to 3-2 on the young season.

The two sides engaged in a defensive struggle over the course of the first half, with the Hawks leading 2-1 after the opening 30 minutes. Huntingdon opened things up in the third quarter, though. Oglethorpe senior attackman Cam Ritter tallied a goal off an assist from freshman defenseman Mac Poland to make the score 3-2 in favor of the home side with 8:45 left in the period, but Huntingdon answered with four consecutive goals over the remainder of the stanza to make the score 7-2.

The Hawks added another with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter, giving the home side a six-goal advantage. The Petrels came back in the game's final 3:15, getting three straight goals with two of them from Ritter and the other from freshman middie Jeremiah James. They cut the deficit to 8-5 with just over 1:20 left, but could get no closer than that as Huntingdon closed the game out.

Ritter finished with a hat trick, while sophomore goalie Addison Irwin totaled 15 saves and a team-high five ground balls.

The Petrels will be back in action on Saturday, when they head to North Carolina to take on Greensboro at 1 p.m.