Holland, MI - The Oberlin College men's lacrosse team made the near five-hour journey to western Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, falling 9-8 in overtime to the Hope College Dutchmen in extreme wintry conditions. 

Neither team led by more than two goals at any point of the seesaw affair. Solomon Brennan's sixth score of the season and second of the fourth quarter gave the Yeomen an 8-7 lead with 5:12 left to play but Oberlin could not make it stand up in the end. 

With 105 seconds still to expire, Michael Mann finished off a David Brice feed to square the match at 8-8. After both teams traded turnovers, Oberlin had a chance to win it in the final seconds but Jacob Starcke's shot flew wide of target to force extra time. 

After winning the face-off to start overtime, the Yeomen promptly turned it over to give the Dutch a golden opportunity and it was Nick McCreery who deposited the game winner - bouncing it around the stick of Joe Barocas to make the bus ride home for the Yeomen that much longer. 

Rookie Reese Ackerman led the Yeomen attack with three scores, while Starcke and Brennan each posted a pair in the loss. 

After the Dutchmen took an early 2-0 lead, Starcke got the Yeomen on the board at the 6:21 mark and moments later he set up Ryan Blasberg for a man-up goal that tied the game after 15 minutes of play. 

In the second quarter, Mann bookended an Ackerman goal with two scores of his own as the Dutch led 4-3 at the intermission. Oberlin trailed 6-4 midway through third but would find a way to tie the game heading into the fourth. Ackerman trimmed the deficit down to one at the 6:35 mark and Starcke barely beat the buzzer - sending in a Peyton Lee feed as the third-quarter horn went off. 

After neither side found twine the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, the Yeomen would briefly go out in front, 7-6, on a Brennan man-up goal with the help of a Starcke assist. Unfortunately, the Dutch would answer back just nine seconds later as Sam Bowen cashed in a man-down goal with 7:07 to go to set the table for the exciting finish. 

Alexander L'Hommedieu led the defensive effort with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers. Fellow rookie Colin Taylor also forced four giveaways and scooped up four ground balls. Barocas finished with 10 stops between the pipes. 

The result marked Oberlin's first blemish of the year with the team returning home at 2-1 on the young season. 

The Yeomen will be back in action at the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. as the Bulldogs of Adrian College come to town.