SUNY Cortland Athletics

CORTLAND, N.Y. – The nationally second-ranked Cortland men’s lacrosse team scored the last three goals of the game and defeated Springfield College, 12-9, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Saturday afternoon at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex. With the win, their 12th consecutive, the Red Dragons improved to 16-1 and advance to the national quarterfinals where they will host eighth-ranked Middlebury on Wednesday, May 14, at 4 p.m. The Pride fell to 11-7 with the loss.

Senior Kyle Simensky (Locust Valley) led the Red Dragons with three goals and two assists. Senior Billy Fuchs (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) scored three goals, including the game-winner with six minutes, nine seconds to play, and senior Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) and junior Joey Morgan (Putnam Valley) each added two goals and an assist. Senior Adam Hyde (West Seneca/West Seneca East) chipped in with a goal and an assist, senior Josh Cittadino (Baldwin) won 14-of-19 faceoffs and junior goalie Mike Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) stopped six shots.

Sophomore Kyle Gable (Somers, CT) led the Pride with three goals, sophomore Joe Heney (Plainview/Plainview JFK) had two goals and an assist and junior Jake Beebe (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury) added a goal and two assists. Junior goalie Tom Albano (Ridgewood, NJ) made a career-high 20 saves.

Neither team led by more then two goals in the game until Heath’s score with five seconds on the clock. Cortland opened up a 2-0 lead on goals from Morgan and Heath before junior Chris Jez (Somers, CT) put Springfield on the scoreboard with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Simensky and Gable then traded two goals each in the second quarter and the Red Dragons led 4-3 at the half.

After Simensky netted his third of the game just 32 seconds into the third quarter, Springfield scored five of the next six goals, the last two from Heney, to grab an 8-6 lead with 2:29 remaining in the third stanza. Cortland answered with unassisted goals from senior Chris Hannon (Baldwin) at the 2:07 mark and Morgan with just six ticks on the clock to tie the game at 8-8.

Simensky set up Fuchs’ second goal of the game 11 seconds into the fourth quarter for a 9-8 Cortland lead. Then, at the 10:16 mark, the momentum appeared to be on the Red Dragons’ side when they were awarded a two-man advantage for one minute. The Pride, however, capitalized on a long clear when Beebe gathered a loose ball and beat Robinson with a fast-break goal to tie the score at 9:53. Cortland failed to score in the final 37 seconds of the man-up situation and the teams were tied 9-9.

Fuchs gave Cortland its final lead at 6:09 off a feed from Joey Morgan with his team-high 54th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Heath appeared to have finished off a pass from Fuchs right in front, but the goal was waved off for hitting the crossbar and not going over the goal line.

At 3:49, Hyde scored a big insurance goal with an unassisted tally to make it an 11-9 game. After a Springfield penalty at 1:33, Cortland possessed the ball in the box but eventually turned it over leading to a penalty on Hyde with 39 seconds remaining. Robinson denied a bid by Springfield, and senior Nick Bueti (Holbrook/Sachem) threw a long clearing pass down the field that Heath collected and finished off for his 50th goal of the season.

Cortland outshot Springfield, 57-25, had a 37-30 advantage in ground balls and won 15-of-23 faceoffs. The Red Dragons went 1-for-3 on the man-up and Springfield was 1-for-4.


FINAL SCORE: Cortland 12, Springfield 9

GAME SUMMARY:
Team    1    2    3    4        Final   
Springfield (11-7)    1    2    5    1        9           
Cortland (16-1)    2    2    4    4        12

Scoring (Goals-Assists):

Springfield: Kyle Gable 3-0, Joe Heney 2-1, Jake Beebe 1-2, Chris Jez 1-0, Kyle Louer 1-0, Tyler Montgomery 1-0, Joe Macchi 0-1, Greg Welch 0-1, Jake Jones 0-1
Cortland: Kyle Simensky 3-2, Billy Fuchs 3-0, Ryan Heath 2-1, Joey Morgan 2-1, Adam Hyde 1-1, Chris Hannon 1-0, Nick Bueti 0-1

Goalkeepers:
Springfield: Tom Albano, 20 saves (12 GA in 60:00)
Cortland: Mike Robinson, 6 saves (9 GA in 60:00)

Shots: Cortland 57, Springfield 25
Ground Balls: Cortland 37, Springfield 30
Clears: Cortland 12-of-13, Springfield 14-of-22
Faceoffs Won: Cortland 15, Springfield 8
Penalties: Cortland 4-3:30, Springfield 4-3:00
Extra-Man Offense: Cortland 1-3, Springfield 1-4