BETHANY, W.Va. -- After nearly 600 days of build-up, 60 minutes weren't enough to settle the opening game for the Heidelberg University men's lacrosse program. In the end, the Student Princes fell 27 seconds into the second overtime -- falling to Bethany College, 10-9.

Freshman Nick Selfridge scored five times in his collegiate debut, pacing the Heidelberg offense. Junior Max Rennillo made 10 saves.

Matt Wernerspach scored the program's first goal, a strike from the right side with 11:03 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bisons would tie the game at 1 with a goal by Dan Booth. After Selfridge netted his first goal to regain the lead, the hosts would tally four consecutive goals, taking a 5-2 lead.

Six seconds after the fifth Bison goal, Selfridge answered with his second of the game off a feed from Owen Carter. The Student Princes trailed 5-3 until Elijah Haire aided Selfridge's third of the half with 2:38 to play in the period.

For good measure, Selfridge tacked on his fourth -- a backhanded shot in front of the crease -- with 20 seconds left in the half, tying the game at 5.

Bethany opened the third quarter with a pair of goals past Rennillo, who kept Heidelberg in the game with several critical saves throughout the contest.

Carter scored with the man-up advantage with 5:09 left in the third.

Trailing 7-6 in the fourth, Patrick McCarthy notched his first goal with an unassisted marker with 13:27 left. Heidelberg retook the lead with Wernerspach's second goal of the game -- coming with 7:14 to play.

Up a man, Bethany evened the score with 5:27 to play.

Out of a timeout, the Student Princes moved the ball superbly, setting up Selfridge for his fifth goal, a go-ahead tally with 58 seconds left.

Undaunted, the Bison tied the game with 25 seconds to play, sending the game into overtime.

After no one scored in the first four-minute period of sudden death overtime, Christopher Isaacs slipped a shot past Rennillo for the game winner.

"We had a lot of guys battling hard out there today," said head coach Bill Schmoldt. "As a new program, we made a few mental mistakes that proved costly. If we clean those up, it would've been a different score.

THE FIRSTS:

First Goal: Matt Wernerspach (11:02 - 1st Q)

First Man-up Goal: Owen Carter (5:09, 3rd Q)

First Assist: Owen Carter (10:45, 2nd Q)

First Shot: Tommy Severson (13:33, 1st Q)

First Save: Max Rennillo (7:43, 1st Q)

First Goal Against: Dan Booth (6:53 1st Q)

First Penalty: Ryan Sinnema, Cross-check (3:11, 1st Q)

First Hat Trick: Nick Selfridge (5:04, 1st Q; 10:45, 2nd Q; 2:38, 2nd Q)

NOTES & QUOTES:

Selfridge was 8-for-15 in faceoffs, taking a vast majority of the draws for the Tricolor.

Ryan Sinnema had a team-high three caused turnovers and nine groundball pickups.

Schmoldt on Selfridge: "Five goals is impressive ... I thought Nick did a nice job of taking advantage of some of the matchups he had."

Schmoldt on Rennillo: "In his return to college lacrosse, I thought Max played great."

Schmoldt on Chris Storrs: "Chris is a guy we're going to lean on ... I'm not sure it'll show up in the stats, but he did a great job matched up against their top guys."

UP NEXT:

The Student Princes (0-1) make their home debut on Thursday. HU welcomes Calvin College (0-1) to Hoernemann Stadium for a 7 p.m. contest.