No. 4 Stevens Falls in OT Classic to No. 1 Cortland
Rob Kulish
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (March 13, 2013) – The highly anticipated matchup between two of the top teams in NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse lived up to its billing Wednesday, as the No. 1 team in the nation Cortland defeated fourth-ranked Stevens, 12-11, in overtime at the Virginia Beach SportsPlex.
With the two teams tied at 11-all after 60 minutes of play, the Red Dragons (4-0) took the face-off in the overtime period via a procedure penalty. Cortland immediately called timeout and 34 seconds in generated a shot that sophomore goalie
Matthew Deiner (Millstone Township, N.J.) was able to save. The Red Dragons generated one more shot before a crease violation gave the Ducks the ball with 2:10 on the clock. Stevens’ ensuing clear attempt failed with a loose ball rolling toward the Stevens goal and two Cortland players giving chase. Reaching the ball first was junior captain
Doug Meehan (Sayville, N.Y.) who scooped it up, found himself in a two-on-none breakaway with the Duck goalie and was able to tuck the game-winner inside the right post.
The Meehan goal ended an absolutely classic clash between two of the top teams in the nation, going blow-for-blow for 63:10 of lacrosse and giving the over 1,000 fans in attendance plenty to remember.
With the Ducks leading 8-5 with a little more than 10 minutes to play in the third period following the first of three second-half goals from senior midfielder
Rich Dupras (Hillsborough, N.J.), Cortland answered with three scores over a span of 1:11 to tie the game at eight-all with 5:33 left in the quarter.
After seizing the momentum, the Red Dragons went up a goal at 9-8 with 51 seconds in the third, but the Ducks rebounded, getting an enormous unassisted score from Dupras to tie the game with just seven ticks on the scoreboard.
Stevens opened the scoring in the fourth quarter when senior midfielder
Nicolas Phillipi (Mullica Hill, N.J.) tallied with a powerful one-on-one move 4:12 in to put the Ducks back on top 10-9. Junior midfielder
Joe Slavik (Binghamton, N.Y.) brought Cortland even with an unassisted marker 1:18 later, but Dupras fired back, giving Stevens the lead at 11-10 with just 7:37 remaining.
Slavik tied the game at the 3:10 mark with his third goal of the game, and after winning just their sixth face-off of the contest, the Ducks were unable to convert, giving the Red Dragons the ball with 2:32 left. Cortland called a pair of timeouts in the final two minutes, but the Stevens defense – namely junior long-stick midfielder
Tim Culloty (Mahwah, N.J.) who forced a turnover with 26 seconds in the period – held and gave its offense a chance at a late win. The Ducks generated a solid look from Dupras but it did not find the back of the net, and the two teams went into the extra period.
In the early going, Cortland opened the scoring, but back-to-back goals from senior midfielder
Harrison Dorne (Morristown, N.J.) and sophomore attack
Charlie Cronin (Northampton, Mass.) gave the Ducks a 2-1 margin with 7:01 in the first. After Cortland regained the lead 3:18 into the second, Dorne scored a pair just 1:37 apart to give Stevens a 4-3 edge, and the Ducks eventually went into the locker room up 6-4 behind Dorne’s fourth first-half goal and a Phillipi tally with just 29 seconds left.
Cortland won 20-of-26 face-offs, held a 37-30 margin in total shots and a 31-25 edge in ground balls. Each team went 2-for-6 on man-up chances.
Deiner made 10 saves between the pipes for Stevens, while senior goalie
Mike Kaminski (Sayville, N.Y.) made nine stops for the Red Dragons.
Dupras had three goals, two assists and three ground balls, while Dorne had four scores, a helper and four ground balls. Culloty led the Ducks’ “D” with five caused turnovers and four ground balls, while freshman defender
Tim Fair (West Deptford, N.J.) had two ground balls and two caused turnovers in a very strong performance. Philippi had two goals, one assist and scooped up a pair of ground balls.
Slavik led Cortland with three goals and one assist, with sophomore midfielder
Matt Rakoczy (Clifton Park, N.Y.) scoring three times. Freshman attack
Zach Hopps (Akwesasne, N.Y.) had a goal and three assists while sophomore midfielder
Mike Cantelli (Holmdel, N.J.) had a game-high seven ground balls. Freshman midfielder
Pat Baldwin (Alpharetta, Ga.) led the Red Dragon face-off, winning 17-of-21 he took.
Fourth-ranked Stevens will return to action back at the De Baun Athletic Complex Saturday when it hosts No. 11 Tufts University. All the action will be webcast live at
www.Empire8.TV.