CORTLAND, NY – Cortland scored twice in the final minute of regulation to pull within a goal, but the Red Dragons turned the ball over in the final seconds and saw a furious rally fall short in a 12-11 defeat against Oswego in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women's lacrosse action on Wednesday afternoon on Grady Field.
With the result, Oswego clinched the SUNYAC regular-season title for the second season in a row, improving to 12-4 (9-0 SUNYAC). Cortland finishes second in the conference regular season with an 8-1 league mark, and is 12-4 overall. The Red Dragons had previously secured a bye into the conference semifinals, and will host the winner of Saturday's first-round matchup between third-seeded New Paltz and sixth-seeded Buffalo State in the SUNYAC semifinals on Wednesday.
Kaitlyn Tietjen (Delmar/Bethlehem Central) and
Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) each scored four times for the Red Dragons, while
Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) added a goal and two assists and
Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) provided a goal and an assist.
Melillo, Elizalde, and
Caroline Cox (Marcellus) each had three caused turnovers, while
Bridie McGuire (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) added seven draw controls.
Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) made six saves in goal for Cortland.
Alexis Hill scored five goals for Oswego and had four caused turnovers, six ground balls, and four draw controls. Cassidy Croce contributed three goals, and Aubri Greene scored two times, both on free-position shots. Alana Iacovissi made eight saves in goals for the Lakers. Sadie Zemanick also had four caused turnovers and three ground balls.
Oswego opened the scoring less than two minutes into the first quarter on a goal by Hill, but Cortland quickly responded with Melillo's 35th goal of the year with 12:17 remaining. Another goal by Hill only two minutes later was canceled out by a goal in transition by
Sydney Elizalde after a turnover forced by
Brooke Elizalde, tying the score at 2-2 with 8:57 left in the period.
The Lakers went ahead again on Hill's third goal of the game with 7:46 left in the period and led for the remainder of the contest. Oswego added a goal by Abigail Dicks in the final two minutes to lead 4-2 after a quarter of action.
After nine minutes of scoreless action to start the second quarter, each team scored twice in the final six minutes of the half for a 6-4 Oswego lead at halftime. Cortland's goals during the period came from
Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) and Dembinski.
The Lakers outscored the Red Dragons by a 3-2 margin in the third quarter to extend their lead to 9-6 heading into the fourth, with Tietjen and
Sydney Elizalde scoring in the period for Cortland's two tallies.
Oswego built its largest lead of the game at 11-6 with 7:24 remaining after back-to-back free-position goals by Greene. Cortland responded with a free-position goal by Tietjen and two more goals by
Sydney Elizalde to pull within two goals with 2:35 left. After Oswego controlled the ensuing draw, Hill extended the Lakers' lead to 12-9 with her fifth goal of the game with 1:04 left.
Tietjen gave Cortland hope with a free-position goal with 45 seconds remaining, and then pulled the Red Dragons back to within a goal with her fourth goal of the contest with 21 seconds remaining.
Cortland got control of the ball after Oswego committed a 30-second draw violation, a new rule implemented this season to speed up play. However, the Red Dragons threw an errant pass attempting to transition to offense, and Oswego was able to burn off the final seconds to secure the victory.
