CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's lacrosse team scored 12 straight goals from the middle of the second quarter through the end of the third quarter to pull away with a 21-5 home victory over Western New England in the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament on Wednesday on Grady Field.
Cortland improves to 15-5 with its 11th straight win, and advances to face Bates in Lewiston, Maine in the second round of the national tournament on Friday. Games at the Bates four-team regional are being played on Friday and Saturday due to a religious exemption granted to Hope, one of the other teams playing in the regional. Western New England, conference champion of the Conference of New England, ends its season with a 13-7 record.
Drew Williamee (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) led Cortland with seven points on four goals and three assists, while
Caden Morra (Farmingdale/Plainedge) added three goals and three assists. Four other players recorded four points, as
Stefan Swedlund (Randolph, NJ) scored four times,
Nick Stoecker (East Setauket/Ward Melville) and
Colton Hornquist (Eden) both tallied two goals and two assists, and
Nathan Nagengast (Bay Shore) finished with a goal and three assists.
Charlie Falowski (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) made nine saves in goal for the Red Dragons over the first 52:21 of action, and
Jack Lucidi (Orchard Park) stopped three shots over the final 7:39.
Jack Skarren (Long Beach) had two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
David Noel finished with six caused turnovers and five ground balls for Western New England, and Thomas Labbe recorded two goals and an assist.
Cortland needed only 19 seconds to open the scoring, as the Red Dragons quickly transitioned to offense after a opening faceoff win by
Nicky Miltenberger (Ridge/Longwood), and Williamee found Swedlund in front for Swedlund's 61st goal of the year.
The Red Dragons extended their lead to 4-0 with three goals in under two minutes, a goal by Williamee as he was falling away from the cage, a jumping goal from
Eli Volk, and a goal by Nagengast after scooping up a loose ball in front of the net, prompting a timeout from the Golden Bears.
Western New England got on the board with a goal by Kevin Morina with six minutes left, but
James Violi and Stoecker added goals in the last five minutes for a 6-1 Cortland lead after one period.
After a goal by Labbe pulled Western New England within four goals with 12:20 left in the second quarter, Cortland began its 12-0 run to take control of the contest. Closing out the second quarter, Hornquist tallied one goal and Swedlund scored three times, including a goal with under two seconds left in the half after a great feed from the left side from Stoecker.
The Red Dragons outscored the Golden Bears by an 8-0 margin in the third quarter to take an 18-2 lead into the final frame, with three goals each from Williamee and Morra, as well as one goal each from
Frank Neeson (Orchard Park), a man-up goal for Cortland, and a goal from
Oban Rader (Shrub Oak/Lakeland).
The Golden Bears and Red Dragons each scored three times in the final period, with Hornquist scoring a goal after scooping up a loose ball, Stoecker netting his second goal of the game off a feed from
Jimmy Addonizio (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius), and
Sean Olvany (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) finishing off the scoring from in front after an assist from Hornquist.
Cortland finished the game with 21 goals on 25 shots on goal in the game, while Western New England had five goals on 17 shots on target.
