The SUNY Cortland men’s lacrosse team has received a bye into the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament and will host Springfield College (Mass.) on Saturday, May 10, at 1 p.m. at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex. Tickets for the game are $5 for adults and $3 for students, children 12 and under and senior citizens 55 or older.
Springfield defeated Kean University (N.J.), 17-2, in a first-round game Wednesday at Springfield. The winner of Saturday's game advances to the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 14, and will face either Middlebury (Vt.), Bowdoin (Maine) or Mount Ida (Mass.). Bowdoin and Mount Ida play in the first round, with that winner traveling to Middlebury for the second round.
The national semifinals will also be held on campus sites on Sunday, May 18. The Division III national championship game is Sunday, May 25, at 1:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Cortland (15-1) is ranked second nationally in the final United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III poll of the regular season. The Red Dragons – national runner-up last season and national champion in 2006 – earned their playoff berth by winning the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament title last Saturday.
Second-year head coach Steve Beville's squad enters NCAA play with an 11-game winning streak. The Red Dragons' lone setback was a 9-8 overtime loss at Ithaca College on March 22. Following that game, Cortland defeated Cabrini College by nine goals and won each of its next 10 games by 11 or more goals. The Red Dragons lead the nation in scoring margin at 11.6 goals per game and rank second in scoring offense, behind defending national champion Salisbury, at 17.4 goals per contest.
Senior attack Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) is the Division III national leader with 91 total points (48 goals, 43 assists) and ranks fifth nationally with 2.7 assists per game. Heath is the first player in school history to reach the 80-point mark twice and is four points away from the school single-season record of 95 points set by Mark Koetzner in 1981 (36 goals and school-record 59 assists). Heath ranks fifth in school history with 222 career points (127 goals, 95 assists) in just three seasons at Cortland after transferring from Division I Sacred Heart University.
Senior attack Billy Fuchs (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) leads the Red Dragons with 51 goals this season and is second with 78 total points. He ranks seventh nationally with 4.9 points per game. Also a transfer from Sacred Heart, where he played for two seasons, Fuchs became the 17th player at Cortland to reach the career 100-goal mark (101 in two seasons) and is only the second player in school history to score at least 50 goals in a season twice. Rich Felser scored 51 goals in 1966 and 57 goals in 1967, while Heath needs two more goals to reach the 50-goal mark for the second straight year.
Senior Kyle Simensky (Locust Valley) completes one of the most potent starting attacks in the country with 35 goals and 11 assists for 46 points. Senior midfielder Adam Hyde (West Seneca/West Seneca East) is fourth on the team with 22 goals and 36 total points. Senior midfielder Josh Cittadino (Baldwin), last week's SUNYAC tournament MVP, ranks third nationally in faceoff percentage at 68.9 percent (175-of-254) and is fifth on the team with 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists).
Senior close defenders Nick Bueti (Holbrook/Sachem) and junior Luke Lemon (Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy) anchor a defense that allows only 5.9 goals per game, seventh best nationally in Division III. Junior goalie Mike Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) has a 59.6 save percentage and is currently third in the country with a 5.91 goals against average.
Tournament Bracket (PDF file)