CORTLAND, N.Y. – Senior Billy Fuchs (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) and junior Joey Morgan (Putnam Valley) each scored four goals to lead the nationally second-ranked Cortland men's lacrosse team to a dominant 16-5 win versus seventh-ranked Ithaca in the NCAA Division III Semifinals Sunday afternoon at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex. The Red Dragons won their 14th consecutive game and improved to 18-1 on the season and advance to the Division III title game against Salisbury, Sunday, May 25, at 1:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. This will be the third straight year the Red Dragons and Gulls meet for the national crown. The Bombers ended their season at 17-3.

Fuchs, who set the single-season goal record at 58 with his four tallies, also added an assist to his scoring line, while senior Adam Hyde (West Seneca/West Seneca East) became the 18th player in school history to reach 100 career goals, as he recorded two goals and an assist. Senior Josh Cittadino (Baldwin) netted a pair of goals, and senior Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) added two assists to break the school single-season scoring record. Heath now has 97 points (51 goals, 46 assists) this season in 19 games, surpassing the old record of 95 (36 goals, 59 assists) set by Mark Koetzner in 1981. Senior Kyle Simensky (Locust Valley) contributed one goal and one assist, and freshman Chris DeLuca (Sayville) won 7-of-10 faceoffs. Junior goalie Mike Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) made nine saves and allowed four goals in 54 minutes of action before giving way to junior Matt Hipenbecker (Mountain Lakes, NJ), who stopped two shots and gave up one goal in the final six minutes.

Senior Matt Nelligan (Rowley, MA/Pingree School) led the Bombers with two goals and one assist. Seniors Logan Bobzien (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) and Craig Lepiane (Rochester/West Irondequoit) and junior Matt Cutter (Needham, MA) each scored a goal. Junior goalie Ben Connery (Homer) started in the cage and made 10 saves and allowed seven goals in the first half. Freshman David Gale (Amherst, MA/Loomis Chaffee) played 20 minutes, 47 seconds, stopping three shots and surrendering eight goals, and junior Collin Meadow (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) played the final 9:13 with two saves and one goal against.

Morgan opened the scoring at 13:41 of the first quarter with an unassisted goal, but Ithaca responded with goals from Nelligan and Lepiane to take a 2-1 lead, the Bombers' only advantage in the game. Cittadino, Simensky and Hyde closed out the quarter with goals and Cortland led 4-2. Fuchs netted back-to-back goals and Morgan scored his second of the game to push Cortland's lead to 7-2 late in the second quarter before Bobzien stopped the run with his 36th goal of the season at the 52-second mark to make it a 7-3 game at intermission.

Cortland put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring Ithaca, 4-1, to gain an 11-4 advantage. Krol and Nelligan traded man-up goals, then Heath scored his school-record 96th point of the season on an assist of Fuchs' goal and Morgan scored his third of the game. Robinson followed with a long outlet to Cittadino, who ran in alone on Gale and scored his second of the game.

The Red Dragons opened up the fourth quarter with five straight goals, the third in the run being Hyde's 100th of his career and the fourth coming off Fuchs' stick to break the record of 57 goals in a season set by Rich Felser in 1967. The Bombers finished the scoring at the 2:16 mark on a man-up goal by Cutter, assisted by Nelligan.

Cortland outshot Ithaca, 51-25, and held a 43-30 advantage in ground balls. The teams split 24 faceoffs. The Red Dragons were successful on 2-of-4 man-up situations, while the Bombers were 2-of-6.


FINAL SCORE: Cortland 16, Ithaca 5
GAME SUMMARY:
Team                            1    2    3    4        Final    
Ithaca (17-3)       2    1    1    1       5           
Cortland (18-1)           4    3    4    5       16

Scoring (Goals-Assists):

Ithaca: Matt Nelligan 2-1, Logan Bobzien 1-0, Craig Lepiane 1-0, Matt Cutter 1-0, Nic Heckman 0-1
Cortland: Billy Fuchs 4-1, Joey Morgan 4-0, Adam Hyde 2-1, Josh Cittadino 2-0, Jay DiStefano 1-0, Brian Krol 1-0, Eric Parah 1-0, Ryan Heath 0-2, Mike Burke 0-1, Keith Greene 0-1, Greg Steward 0-1

Goalkeepers:
Ithaca: Ben Connery, 10 saves (7 GA in 30:00), David Gal, 3 saves (8 GA in 20:47), Collin Meadow, 2 saves (1 GA in 9:13)
Cortland: Mike Robinson, 9 saves (4 GA in 54:00), Matt Hipenbecker, 2 saves (1 GA in 6:00)

Shots: Cortland 51, Ithaca 25
Ground Balls: Cortland 43, Ithaca 30 
Clears: Cortland 18-of19, Ithaca 13-of-26
Faceoffs Won: Cortland 12, Ithaca 12 
Penalties: Cortland 7-5:30, Ithaca 4-2:30
Extra-Man Offense: Cortland 2-4, Ithaca 2-6