HANOVER, Ind. -- In its first season as a member of the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference, third-seeded Washington & Jefferson advanced to the men's title match with a 10-8 win at second-seeded Hanover.

W&J's sixth-straight victory avenges an 11-10 loss to the Panthers on March 19, the Presidents' first match in the ORLC, and one of just two one-goal losses in the conference for W&J. The Presidents move to 7-10 on the season and will travel to top-seeded Transylvania (Ky.) for Saturday's title match, which is slated to begin at 5 p.m. The first meeting between the two teams was also in Lexington, Kentucky, with the Pioneers capturing a 7-6 victory.

Despite the Panthers striking first, just 49 seconds into play, W&J responded to take a 3-2 lead after 15 minutes. Matt Densford tied the game, 1-1, at 11:47 of the first quarter and Kyle MacKenzie added one of his own at the 4:00 mark to give W&J a 2-1 lead. Just 1:35 later, Brock Warner knotted the match at 2-2 for the Panthers. Kyle Heinig closed out the first-quarter scoring with 36 seconds remaining to give W&J the 3-2 edge.

After Zach Fredericks extended the lead to 4-2 2:46 into the second period, the home team found the back of the net twice to bring the game back to a tie, this time, 4-4. A man-up goal by Bryan Whipkey just 28 seconds after the Panthers tied it gave the guests the lead back, 5-4, and Densford closed the scoring of the half with 1:26 to play, 6-4.

Fredericks again opened the scoring of a quarter, making it 7-4 1:54 into the second half. The next four goals were all scored by Hanover, however, as W&J fell behind 8-7 with 4:12 left in the third quarter.

Heinig scored his second goal with under a minute remaining in a quarter, this time with 45 ticks in the third, as the two teams ended 45 minutes of play knotted at 8-8.

There would only be two goals in the fourth quarter, both from the crosses of Presidents. Ryan Quan scored a man-down goal at 8:26, and Heinig completed the hat trick at 6:12 to punch W&J's ticket to the ORLC Championship Game.

Heinig's three goals, four points and 13 shots were game highs, while Densford and Fredericks both added a pair of scores and MacKenzie supplied a goal and an assist.

Quan and Nick Norris tied the the team lead with five ground balls apiece, with Joseph Tritschler causing five turnovers and Norris forcing three.

Jacob Succop made 10 saves in goal, bringing his season total to 216, 12 shy of his single-season program record of 228 from last season.