CORTLAND, NY –
Stefan Swedlund (Randolph, NJ) broke the Cortland program record for goals in a single season, as the Cortland men's lacrosse team earned a 18-7 victory over Oneonta on Grady Field on Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament.
Cortland earned its second straight SUNYAC title and 30th conference title of all-time. The Red Dragons also earned the SUNYAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III tournament. The NCAA selection show will be held at 9 p.m. on Sunday on NCAA.com, where Cortland will find out the opponent and location of its first national tournament game. Initial rankings via the NCAA Power Index (NPI) put Cortland in line to host a first-round contest on Wednesday, May 6, but that will be confirmed during the selection show. Oneonta ends the season at 10-8, reaching the conference championship game for the second consecutive season.
Face-off specialist
Nicky Miltenberger (Ridge/Longwood) was selected as Tournament MVP, winning 32-of-36 faceoffs (.889), collecting 19 ground balls, and providing two goals and an assist across two tournament contests. He also finished 17-of-21 on faceoffs with eight ground balls on Saturday.
Swedlund,
Nick Stoecker (East Setauket/Ward Melville),
Drew Williamee (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy),
James Sullivan (Rockville Centre/South Side), and
Sean Olvany (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) joined Miltenberger on the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team.
Swedlund scored five goals to reach 60 goals on the year, surpassing the previous single-season record of 58 set by Billy Fuchs in 2008. Stoecker added three goals and two assists, while Williamee, making his first collegiate start, provided two goals and two assists. Olvany scored two goals on two shot attempts for Cortland, while Sullivan had two caused turnovers and seven ground balls.
Thomas Hnis scored three goals, and Jamie O'Neil provided a goal and two assists for Oneonta. Mark Restivo made 27 saves in goal to keep Oneonta within a respectable margin for much of the contest, despite a significant 81-31 advantage in shots on goal for Cortland. The Oneonta trio was named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team, with O'Neil and Restivo also being honored on the all-tournament team last year.
Swedlund opened the scoring for Cortland just under five minutes into the first period, and
Caden Morra (Farmingdale/Plainedge) followed with a goal just over a minute later off a feed from
Nathan Nagengast (Bay Shore) to make it 2-0.
Hnis got Oneonta on the board with 6:36 remaining, just beating the shot clock to sneak a shot past Cortland goalkeeper
Charlie Falowski (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow). Cortland responded with three consecutive goals, one by
Eli Volk (Alamo, CA/San Ramon Valley) and two by Swedlund, which tied Fuchs with his 57th and 58th goals of the year, to give Cortland a 5-1 lead. Falowski also made three saves in the first period to keep Cortland ahead after one frame.
Each team scored twice in the second quarter for a 7-3 Cortland advantage into halftime. After Miltenberger won the opening faceoff of the second quarter, Williamee netted his first goal only seven seconds into the frame off a feed from Stoecker. Daniel Macchiarella and Ryan Babikian scored back-to-back goals for Oneonta, both assisted by O'Neil, before Swedlund tallied his fourth goal of the game off an assist from Morra for the record-breaking goal.
Cortland began to build up a comfortable lead in the third quarter, outscoring Oneonta by a 4-1 margin and holding a 13-1 edge in shots on goal in the period to carry an 11-4 edge into the final frame. Williamee, Olvany, Volk, and Morra each scored a goal for Cortland in the period, and O'Neil scored the lone Oneonta goal.
Oneonta looked to start a comeback bid with two straight goals by Hnis early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 11-6, but Cortland scored six consecutive goals to pull away. Stoecker started the Cortland run with a strong defensive interception to stop a clearance attempt by Oneonta, and fired a shot from near midfield into an empty goal that was vacated by Restivo to help with the clearance attempt. The other five goals during the run for Cortland came from
Frank Neeson (Orchard Park), Stoecker, Swedlund,
James Violi (East Islip), and Olvany.
After a goal by Shakim Carr of Oneonta with 1:04 remaining, Stoecker added the final tally of the contest off an assist from
Patrick O'Doherty (Lynbrook) with 36 seconds remaining, as Cortland secured the conference title.
SUNYAC Men's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team:
Steven Fenner, Plattsburgh
Preston Daniels, Potsdam
Thomas Hnis, Oneonta
Jamie O'Neil, Oneonta
Mark Restivo, Oneonta
Sean Olvany, Cortland
Nick Stoecker, Cortland
James Sullivan, Cortland
Stefan Swedlund, Cortland
Drew Williamee, Cortland
MVP - Nicky Miltenberger, Cortland
