Revenge Factor: Bullets Beat No. 1 Cortland
from press release
MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. - Gettysburg survived a furious
late-game rally from SUNY Cortland and the third-ranked Bullets and
held on to beat the No. 1-ranked Red Dragons 7-5 Saturday afternoon
at John J. Burns Park on Long Island to win the Supervisor's
Trophy, presented by Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto.
Gettysburg (4-0), which allowed just one first-half goal, is now
3-0 in its last three games against No. 1-ranked teams after
beating Salisbury University 11-10 last year and Stevenson
University 12-7 in last season's NCAA Division III semifinals.
The game was a rematch of last year's NCAA Division III national
championship game, which Cortland won 9-7. It was also the second
year in a row that the two teams met on Long Island, where the Red
Dragons prevailed 14-8 last season.
Senior Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) led the Bullets
with two goals and one assist while junior Danno Lynch (Medfield,
Mass./Avon Old Farms [Conn.]) added two goals. Junior Andrew Ryan
(Palm Beach, Fla./Westminster School) contributed a goal and an
assist off the bench.
Freshman goalie John LeClerc (Acton, Mass./Tilton School [N.H.])
made a season-high nine saves for the Bullets.
With his second goal, Brody broke into Gettysburg's career top-10
goals list. He now has 116 goals, tying him with Earl Knight '88
and Jake Von Nostrand '04.
Cortland (1-1) was led by Phil Hayes, who scored a pair of goals,
and Chris DeLuca, who handed out a pair of assists. Mike Kaminski
also stopped nine shots for the Red Dragons.
Leading 7-3 with less than three minutes left, the Bullets were
whistled for a pair of penalties 20 seconds apart. Cortland cashed
in on the two-man advantage, as Brian Krol scored with 2:02
remaining. After a Gettysburg turnover, Mike Tota sent home a shot
as he fell to the ground, cutting the deficit to 7-5.
The Dragons won the ensuing face-off, but LeClerc stopped a DeLuca
shot with 1:12 left. After another Bullet turnover, Cortland
attempted two more shots, but DeLuca's blast with 36 seconds left
sailed well high and LeClerc came up with his final save with 25
ticks showing. Gettysburg successfully cleared it to run out the
remainder of the clock.
The Bullets struck early, with Brody scoring off a Gettysburg clear
1:15 into the game. Cortland tied it up just eight seconds later,
as Tom Burke picked up a ground ball and fed it to Jay DiStefano,
who made it a 1-1 game.
Gettysburg opened up some breathing room by scoring the next three
goals spanning into the third quarter. First, Lynch took a baseline
pass from senior Kyle McGrath (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) and rifled
a shot into the upper-right corner with 12:38 left in the second
quarter, putting the Bullets in front for good. Sophomore Pat
Sartory (Ellicott City, Md./McDonogh School) one-timed a pass from
Brody with 6:32 left to make it a 3-1 game at the half.
Junior Chris Cahill (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy)
pushed the lead to 4-1 with 12:59 to go in the third quarter,
draining a runner from the right side. Cortland cut it to 4-2 just
48 seconds later, but Brody restored Gettysburg's three-goal lead
when he converted a man-up goal on an assist from Ryan with 6:21
left in the period.
The Red Dragons pulled to with 5-3 after Hayes scored again 54
seconds before the end of the quarter.
Lynch posted his second goal of the day at the 9:56 mark of the
fourth quarter before Ryan capped the scoring for the Bullets 43
seconds later.
Gettysburg out-shot Cortland 36-28 and won 10-of-16 face-offs.
The Bullets pick up their schedule on Tuesday, when they host
Merchant Marine at 3 p.m. in a non-conference outing.
