Ithaca Falls to Tufts in NCAA Quarterfinals
NCAA INTERACTIVE BRACKET
MEDFORD, Mass. —The 2016 Ithaca College men's lacrosse team set a school record for wins in a season, won a school-record 18 consecutive games, and held down the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time in program history.
But the Bombers dream season came to an end Wednesday afternoon at the hands of Tufts University, the two-time defending national champions, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Ithaca's (20-2) high-octane offense, which entered the game leading the nation with 17.38 goals per game, fell behind early and couldn't keep up with the Jumbos (19-2), the No. 2 offense in the country (17.35 goals/game).
The Bombers fell 19-7 Wednesday on Bello Field in Medford, Mass., equaling its lowest-scoring output of the season in its first NCAA quarterfinal since the 2008 season.
The Jumbos advance into the national semifinals Sunday afternoon against St. Lawrence, a 16-12 winner over Amherst. The national championship is Sunday, May 29 in Philadelphia, Pa.
"They dominated us from the first minute to the 60
th minute. … We knew we were going to see a really great team today and we knew we were going to be down in the faceoff stats we just wanted to try and take it one play at a time and play with some confidence and some speed but they didn't allow us to do that," said
Jeff Long, Ithaca's head coach who has guided the Bombers to a 299-147 record (.670 winning percentage) in 29 seasons.
"They're that good that they took us out of our game. They played faster they played harder and they were the better team from start to finish today."
IC advanced into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.
Freshman
Josh Della Puca scored three goals, sophomore
Jake Cotton added one goal with one assist, and senior
Scott Sidnam, the three-time Empire 8 Goalie of the Year, finished with 10 saves in the final game of his decorated Bomber career. He ranks second all-time in program history for career saves with 710.
Ithaca, making its 13th appearance in NCAA's, fell to 12-13 all-time in NCAA tournament action. The Bombers entered play ranked No. 1 in the country by both the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and Nike/Lacrosse Magazine, but were the No. 3 seed in the North for the NCAA tournament.
Tufts, ranked fourth nationally and the No. 2 seed in the North, won its 13th straight NCAA game.
Senior
Eli Gobrecht, IC's All-American defender, caused four turnovers and collected six groundballs in the final game of his South Hill career.
Junior
Grant Osadchey and sophomore
Keith Morrissey each collected four groundballs for Ithaca, which won 31 percent of its faceoffs (9 of 29).
Also scoring goals for IC were: senior
Michael Walker, junior
Jack Shumway, and sophomore
Stephen Morrell.
Ithaca entered the quarterfinals with the sixth-best scoring defense in the nation (6.24 goals/game), but Tufts needed only 18 minutes to eclipse that in the quarterfinals.
Tufts raced out to a 3-0 lead before the Bombers got on the scoreboard. Sophomore
Kaelan Fitzpatrick found a cutting Cotton, who buried the goal with 5:19 remaining in the first quarter.
Tufts scored the last goal of the opening stanza and added the first goal of the second to extend the lead to 5-1, but Ithaca answered 14 seconds later when sophomore
Greg Drillock hit Shumway, who buried his shot to the low corner with 13:14 remaining.
The Jumbos, rattled off four goals in a span of 2:49 as part of a 6-0 second-quarter run to seize control for good, leading 11-2 heading into halftime after winning 12 of 15 first-half faceoffs.
Della Puca scored back-to-back goals to pull the Bombers within 13-4 with 8:04 to go in the 3rd quarter, and Della Puca's third goal of the second half, off a feed from junior
John Januszkiewicz, trimmed the Tufts lead to 18-5 with 12 minutes remaining.
Walker converted a goal off a nifty feed from Cotton to slice the deficit to 19-6, and Morrell added an unassisted tally with three minutes remaining to complete the scoring.
"We just didn't have enough horses in the barn today and they had a ton of horses and their barn is a lot bigger than ours right now," Long said after Ithaca's first-ever game against Tufts.
"With only four seniors maybe we'll get a chance to come back someday and learn from today. You have to be ready to compete at a fast, physical pace this time of year because if you relax for one minute, you will be down two or three goals and it snowballs from there."
The Bombers were one of only two remaining Division III squads to boast both a top-10 scoring offense and a top-10 defense. The other: Salisbury (20-1), the top seed in the South bracket.