Clutch Defense Sparks No. 1 Ithaca Into Quarters
NCAA INTERACTIVE BRACKET
ITHACA, N.Y. —All year long, the No. 1 Ithaca College men's lacrosse team has used its prolific attack, the number one scoring offense in the country, to blow past teams.
During Saturday's second-round NCAA clash with Montclair (N.J.) State, the Bombers displayed a dominant defense that extended Ithaca's school-record win streak to 18 games while earning the school's first trip to the quarterfinals since 2008.
Ithaca (20-1) stymied Montclair State (13-7), holding the Red Hawks scoreless over the final 8:01 while freshman
Josh Della Puca and juniors
Cody Swing and
John Januszkiewicz each scored goals as the Bombers moved on to the quarterfinals.
Ithaca will travel to Tufts (Mass.) University Wednesday for a showdown with the Jumbos (18-2), the two-time defending National Champions. Tufts advanced to the quarterfinals for the seventh straight season thanks to Saturday's 19-6 win over SUNY Cortland.
"Going in we were expecting a 15-round, heavyweight fight and that's what we got today," said
Jeff Long, Ithaca's Hall of Fame coach who earned career win number 299 vs. Montclair State.
"Luckily we had a couple more punches left in our bag of tricks at the end of the game. We knew they were coming in tough and coming in hot and they had a good defense. We knew it would be a good, physical game and mentally we were prepared for that."
The Bombers will be seeking their first quarterfinal win since a 13-12 overtime thriller against Western New England in 2008. Ithaca would lose to Cortland in the semifinals that year, the program's fifth and final appearance in the semifinals.
In a back-and-forth second half, Ithaca, which led 6-3 heading to halftime, saw the lead trimmed to 6-5 after Shaun Sterner and Brady Wulster (three goals apiece) scored two minutes apart early in the third quarter.
Junior
John Januszkiewicz put the Bombers back up by two when he muscled his way towards the cage and fired home his first goal of the game for a 7-5 lead with 8:48 remaining.
The score remained 7-5 heading to the fourth. Sterner scored an unassisted tally to trim the lead to one, but sophomore
Greg Drillock found senior
Michael Walker cutting towards the crease, and Walker buried his shot with 9:39 to play.
Montclair countered with back-to-back scores one minute apart to even the score at 8, but from there Ithaca's normally stout defense (sixth nationally allowing 6.15 goals/game) clamped down and held Montclair State scoreless.
The Red Hawks won the faceoff, but sophomore
Keith Morrissey caused a turnover, and Della Puca rifled home an unassisted goal with 6:06 remaining for a 9-8 lead.
A slashing penalty was called on Montclair State, and junior
Grant Osadchey won the ensuing faceoff 10 seconds later. Senior
Eli Gobrecht picked up the groundball, raced downfield and connected with junior
Cody Swing, who converted a man-up goal for his first career tally and a 10-8 lead with 5:56 to play.
Januszkiewicz and Morrissey caused turnovers on the next two Montclair State possessions, and Januszkiewicz tacked on an insurance goal with 2:09 to clinch the win for IC.
"We had to adapt to the fact that most of their threats were off ball," said sophomore
Winston Wenham, who collected four groundballs with three caused turnovers while holding Montclair State scoreless for 17:06 bridging the first, second, and third quarters.
"A lot of the teams that we played have big dodgers but they were really a good off-ball team and we struggled a little bit early but made the necessary adjustments."
Senior
Scott Sidnam, the three-time Empire 8 Goalie of the Year, made 10 saves to run his record to 20-1. Four of his saves, including several point-blank stops, came during the fourth.
Januszkiewicz, Della Puca, and sophomores
Jake Cotton and
Stephen Morrell each scored two goals, while Cotton added a pair of assists and broke Ithaca's single-season points record in the win. Cotton upped his total to 97 (45 goals, 52 assists) to break Ted Graves' previous mark of 94 points.
With the win, Ithaca, making its 13th appearance in NCAA's, improved to 12-12 all-time in NCAA tournament action.
Ithaca is ranked No. 1 in the country by both the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and Nike/Lacrosse Magazine after setting a school-record for wins in a season.
Against Montclair State, Morrissey caused four turnovers and collected three groundballs, and Swing caused two turnovers with two groundballs.
Gobrecht picked up three groundballs while causing two turnovers as Ithaca forced Montclair State into 21 turnovers.
Senior
Michael Walker and freshman
Conner Crosson added goals in the win while Osadchey collected six groundballs for Ithaca, which outshot Montclair State 37-33.
The Bombers won despite Blasé Mantineo winning 15 of 22 faceoffs (68.2 percent). He entered the game fourth in the country in faceoff percentage (70.9 percent).