The Oglethorpe men's lacrosse team got off to the first 2-0 start in program history Wednesday night in Rome, coming back from a goal down in the fourth quarter to beat the homestanding Shorter Hawks 10-9.

With Shorter holding a 9-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Stormy Petrels responded with a pair of extra-man opportunities. Senior attackman Cam Ritter finished off a feed from freshman attackman Jazz Washington to tie the score 9-9 with 14 minutes remaining, giving the Petrels their first man-up goal of the game. They came back with another at the 6:40 mark, as Ritter again did the honors for his third goal of the game, giving his team the lead for good. Oglethorpe sophomore goalie Addison Irwin made three big saves over the final 2:30 to secure the victory for the visitors, including one in the closing seconds of the game.

The Petrels took a big lead early, running out to a 4-0 edge over the opening 7 minutes of the contest. They led 4-1 at the end of the first quarter, but Shorter brought it to a 4-2 game early in the second. The Petrels responded with three straight goals to take a 7-2 lead, their largest of the game, with just over 9 minutes left in the opening half. The visitors led 8-4 at halftime, but the Hawks responded with five consecutive goals in the third quarter to turn the game upside down and take a 9-8 lead on a man-up goal with 3:15 left in the third.

Ritter finished the game with a hat trick, as did junior middie Brian Green. Freshman middie Hinton Chandler led the way for the Petrels with four ground balls, while Irwin improved to 2-0 on the season and finished the game with 18 saves on 27 shots faced.

Shorter outshot Oglethorpe 38-37, but had a 28-20 advantage in shots on goal. The Petrels went 2-for-5 on extra-man opportunities and won 12 of 23 faceoffs. The Petrels committed 24 turnovers but scooped 24 ground balls.

The 2-0 Petrels take a rest over the weekend, but get back to action Wednesday, Feb. 13, against in-state Division III opponent Piedmont. The Lions visit the Oglethorpe Track and Field at 7 p.m.