FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Richmond Renegades gave up two goals in a span of 17 seconds midway through the third period, and it cost them dearly in a 4-3 loss to Fayetteville last night.

Richmond (27-21-3, 57 points) still leads the FireAntz (24-19-8, 56) by one point in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings but missed a chance to clinch third place.

The Renegades led 3-2, thanks in part to a pair of goals by Andre Gill, when Matt Moreland scored at 11:34 of the third and Marc Norrington beat goaltender Ryan Senft :17 later.

Richmond can secure third place and home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs against Fayetteville with a win or overtime loss to Twin City tonight at the Coliseum.

Fayetteville, which won the season series 7-5, finishes with second-place Jacksonville tonight at home.

Each team registered a power-play goal in the opening period. After B.J. Stephens opened the scoring at 6:59, Gill posted his 32nd goal of the season, assisted by Nathan Oke and Trevor Karasiewicz with 5:27 left in the period.

Donald Melnyk and Brett Needham teamed to put the Renegades on top 1:21 into the second, and Gill's second goal of the evening gave Richmond a 3-1 advantage at 7:08.

But the FireAntz closed the gap when defenseman Corey Hessler scored a little over two minutes later.

Richmond ------------------------- 1
Fayetteville ------------------------- 1

2

0 - 3

1

2 - 4

First period - 1, Fayetteville, Stephens 21 (Hessler, Norrington), 6:59 (pp). 2, Richmond, Gill 32 (Oke, Karasiewicz), 14:33 (pp). Penalties - Vandermeer, Rich (hooking), 6:08; Lewis, Rich (hooking), 10:41; Hessler, Fay (roughing), 13:49.

Second period - 3, Richmond, Melnyk 23 (Needham), 1:21. 4, Richmond, Gill 33 (Madeiros, Karasiewicz), 7:08. 5, Fayetteville, Hessler 9 (Schremp, Robertson), 9:13. Penalties - Hessler, Fay (hooking), 13:36; Katzberg, Fay (cross-checking), 18:05.

Th ird period - 6, Fayetteville, Moreland 9 (Norrington, Saittakari), 11:34. 7, Fayetteville, Norrington 19 (Moreland, Cole), 11:51). Penalties - Oke, Rich (hooking), 19:34; Sich, Fay (roughing), 19:55.

Shots on goal - Richmond 12-16-735. Fayetteville 7-9-12 - 28. Power-play opportunities - Richmond 1 of 3, Fayetteville 1 of 3. Goalies - Richmond: Senft 18-13-1 (28 shots-24 saves); Fayetteville: Collins 15-11-5 (35-32). RefereeRobert Walter. A - 3,484.