Despite a halftime deficit on the road against a top-five ranked opponent, the Hope College men's lacrosse team did not back down.

The Flying Dutchmen found their footing and outscored fourth-ranked Christopher Newport University (Va.) during the second half before falling, 17-9, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships on Friday.

Hope, making its third NCAA postseason appearance as MIAA Tournament champions, ended the season with a 13-6 record.

The Flying Dutchmen drew praise from Christopher Newport head coach Mikey Thompson, whose team advanced to host a third-round matchup against seventh-ranked Gettysburg College (Pa.) on Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m.

"Credit to Hope for playing an entire 60 minutes," Thompson said. "Fantastic season for those guys. I love the way they play. They push the ball up and down the field just the way we like to."

The Captains (17-2) sailed to early command by scoring the first seven goals over a span of 20 minutes.

A Christopher Newport own goal on an errant pass put Hope on the board with 9:23 remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore midfielder David Brace (Plymouth, Michigan / Plymouth) struck again two minutes later. Christopher Newport, however, stemmed the tide with a four-goal run and went on to lead 12-3 at halftime.

Hope outscored the Captains 5-4 during the third quarter but could not pull any closer. Both teams scored once during the fourth quarter.

"Credit to Christopher Newport; they're an excellent team. They did an outstanding job of playing ball today. It was fun being on the field with them," head coach Michael Schanhals said. "We have three things we try to do every game. The first thing is to try to run the field. We thought we were doing a nice job of that in the first half. We just weren't finishing. 

"The second thing is to share the work. We needed to connect a little better with our passes. We were just a little bit tight right away. Once we relaxed, we just played. The third thing is just play, get to that point where we're not thinking, we're just playing and being with our brothers on the field. I think we finally got to that point. 

"That's usually the way with games," Schanhals said, "but credit to Christopher Newport, they made us pay when we made mistakes early."

The Captains outshot Hope by a 44-37 margin, including a 25-17 edge in the first half. Alex Brendes led 10 Christopher Newport goal scorers with four.

Brace and senior attacker Colin Stecco (East Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) topped the Flying Dutchmen with two goals apiece.

Stecco also registered two assists, giving him 44 for the season — second-most in program history. Only Jack Radzville recorded more with 48 in 2021.

Hope also received goals from senior attacker Alex Goodall (Clarkston, Michigan / Lutheran Northwest), junior midfielder Blaine Hynde (Muskegon, Michigan / Reeths Puffer), junior Michael Mann (Plymouth, Michigan / Detroit Jesuit), and sophomore long pole Luke Wierengo (Northville, Michigan / Northville).

Mann finished with a career-best 56 goals — tied with Radzville (2021) for third-most in program history.

Senior goalie John Shea (Commerce Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) made eight saves for Hope.

Shea's 156 saves are the second-most in program history. Current assistant coach Nick Schanhals holds the Flying Dutchmen record with 183 in 2019 as a student-athlete.

The 2023 season marked the sixth fully completed season with double-digit wins for the Flying Dutchmen.

Schanhals thanks Hope's senior class for setting up the Flying Dutchmen for success this season and moving forward.

"We're super proud of our seniors," Schanhals said. "They did a fantastic job of leading us, embracing our youngsters. We've got a lot of young guys on our squad. They wrapped them up and we figured out how to just get a little bit better, a little bit better every day. Hopefully, we did that today as well."