CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's lacrosse team held Geneseo scoreless for 20 minutes, 50 seconds spanning the first to third quarters and defeated the Knights, 12-7, in SUNYAC action Saturday afternoon at the Stadium Complex. The Red Dragons won their eighth consecutive game and improved to 11-6 overall and 7-0 in the conference, clinching the top seed in the upcoming SUNYAC tournament. Geneseo dropped to 8-7 and 6-1 and finished second in the league standings.

Cortland hosts fourth-seeded Oneonta and Geneseo hosts third-seeded Brockport on Wednesday in the tournament semifinals with the winners to meet for the title and the automatic NCAA berth next Saturday.

Freshman Caden Yancey (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) led the Red Dragon offense with a career-high six points on a career-best five goals and an assist. Juniors Austin Palmer (Hamburg/St. Francis) and Tyler Starrett (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) and freshman Ryan Scanlon (Cornelius, NC/William Amos Hough) each netted two goals and senior Christopher Dovi (Cortland) added a goal. Sophomore Colton Smith (South Bristol/Penn Yan Academy) collected two assists, while graduate students Zak Jones (East Quogue/Westhampton Beach) and Jacob Rivers (Homer) and senior Troy Morris (Long Beach) recorded one assist apiece.

Sophomore goalie Travis Wagner (Penfield) matched his career high with 17 saves for Cortland. Sophomore Matt Amato (Kingston/Millbrook School) caused two turnovers, senior Dominick Natale (Homer) secured a game-high six ground balls and senior Kyle Boden (Wading River/Shoreham-Wading River) scooped up four ground balls.

Junior William McCumiskey (Oyster Bay/Chaminade) paced Geneseo's offense with five goals. Seniors Sean Byrne (Smithtown/Smithtown West) and Kevin Cook (Northport) each tallied a goal and an assist with junior Tim Brockwell (Northport), sophomore Kevin Mouton (Bethpage) and freshman Riley Henselder (Hauppauge) chipping in with an assist.

Junior goalie Mark Pav (South Setauket/Ward Melville) turned aside 15 shots. Senior Ryan Lee (Northport) won 11-of-17 faceoffs and scooped up three ground balls. Senior Tommy Rohan (Wantagh) forced four turnovers, and senior Lucas Kollmer (Centerport/Harborfields) and sophomore Ethan Cone (Holbrook/Sachem East) each collected three ground balls.

The teams traded four goals in the opening quarter before the Red Dragons outscored the Knights, 5-0, in the second quarter to build a 7-2 advantage at the half. Geneseo pulled to within 9-5 after three quarters of play, but the Red Dragons regained their five-goal lead with goals from Palmer and Yancey to open the fourth-quarter scoring. Geneseo closed to within 11-7 at the 4:46 mark, before Starrett closed the scoring with 24.6 seconds remaining for the 12-7 final.

Cortland 12, Geneseo 7

GAME SUMMARY:

Team                 1-2-3-4  Final
Geneseo            2-0-3-2      7
Cortland             2-5-2-3    12

Scoring (Goals-Assists):
Geneseo: William McCumiskey 5-0, Sean Byrne 1-1, Kevin Cook 1-1, Kevin Mouton 0-1, Riley Henselder 0-1, Tim Brockwell 0-1
Cortland: Caden Yancey 5-1, Ryan Scanlon 2-0, Austin Palmer 2-0, Tyler Starrett 2-0, Christopher Dovi 1-0, Colton Smith 0-2, Troy Morris 0-1, Zak Jones 0-1, Jacob Rivers 0-1

Goalkeepers:
Geneseo: Mark Pav, 15 saves (12 GA in 60:00)
Cortland: Travis Wagner, 17 saves (7 GA in 60:00)

Shots: Cortland 37, Geneseo 35
Ground Balls: Cortland 33, Geneseo 25
Turnovers: Geneseo 21, Cortland 21
Caused Turnovers: Geneseo 7, Cortland 6
Clears: Cortland 20-of-23, Geneseo 18-of-27
Faceoffs Won: Geneseo 13, Cortland 9
Penalties: Cortland 2-1:30, Geneseo 1-1:00
Extra-Man Offense: Geneseo 1-3, Cortland 0-1

Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 11-6, 7-0 SUNYAC, Geneseo (Knights) 8-7, 6-1 SUNYAC