NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket
CORTLAND, N.Y. – In their fifth appearance in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, the ninth-ranked Endicott men's lacrosse team suffered a 13-6 defeat at the hands of #10 Cortland to see their 2015 season end. The Gulls (16-4) cap off their season one win shy of a national quarterfinal berth after winning their eighth CCC Championship and advancing past Colorado College 12-6 in a home NCAA First Round game.
Cortland (16-4) moves on to face #1 RIT on Wednesday, May 13th in the NCAA Quarterfinals after the Tigers eliminated #15 Union (N.Y.) from the tournament.
After scoring two of the first three goals of the opening quarter, an unassisted strike by senior midfielder Jeremy Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) just 55 seconds into the game and a man-up tally by Gulls sophomore attacker Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) from fellow second-year Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) to make it a 2-1 lead, Endicott surrendered six unanswered goals to Cortland as they trailed 7-2 going into halftime.
Red Dragons attacker Zach Hopps (Akwesasne, N.Y.) scored two of his three goals during that run as the junior along with senior midfielder Matt Rakoczy (Clifton Park, N.Y.) finished with a game-high five points to lead all players.
At the start of the second half, Endicott showed signs of life as Jennings netted another man-up goal, this time from senior attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.), on a carry-over penalty from the end of the second quarter just 15 seconds in. Four minutes later, senior captain Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) scored unassisted to make it a 7-4 Cortland lead with 10:51 remaining in the third quarter.
Cortland, however, would go on another run scoring five of the next six goals, two by Rakoczy, to take a command 12-5 lead. Only a Bannon goal off a feed from sophomore Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) eight seconds after a face-off win broke up the Red Dragon rally.
With a five-goal cushion at the start of the fourth quarter, Jennings scored his third goal of the contest for his 38th tally of the season at the 6:32 mark which was matched by Hopps 1:18 later with an assist to Rakoczy.
Endicott was outshot 44-28 by the Red Dragons who also held a 33-28 groundball advantage and won 13-of-22 face-offs thanks to the play of junior Pat Baldwin (Alpharetta, Ga.). The Gulls committed 16 turnovers in the game and were 17-of-21 (.810) on clear attempts compared to their season average of 84.3%. Both teams took advantage of man-up situations with Endicott going 2-for-6 and Cortland going 3-for-6.
Cortland goalie Scott Tota (Webster, N.Y.) earned the win with 13 saves between the pipes while Gulls junior Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made 14 saves in goal in defeat. Endicott senior defenseman Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) was solid in with two caused turnovers and five groundballs while Cortland's Luke McNaney (Marcellus, N.Y.) had two caused turnover with four groundballs.
