On a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon the Great Danes of SUNY Albany traveled to Cortland, New York for their first game of the season to face the #12 ranked Red Dragons in an Empire East conference matchup.
The last meeting between these teams would take us back to April of 2022 where the Red Dragons came out on top with a score of 11-5. This was an important game last year as it clinched Cortland the Empire East conference championship and ended the spring season for the Danes of Albany.
With the bad taste left in Albany’s mouth they seemed determined to come back and get redemption for the loss in the season prior and to start their 2023 season off with a win.
Cortland wasn’t going to let this happen too easily. The 12th ranked team in the country is coming off of a big win against rival Syracuse where they won by a score of 10-6.
As the whistle blew and the game started it seemed to be all Cortland. They found themselves on the scoreboard within the first 10 seconds of the game after a crafty play from senior Ryan Smith splitting two defenders and crashing the crease for the opening goal.
Cortland started the game and controlled most of the possession time but aside from the opening goal they were not able to capitalize on the offensive pressure. After a Cortland turnover that led to an Albany goal the Dragons needed only one chance to re-secure the lead. The first quarter ended 2-1 and it seemed that the weather was having some effect on the players on the field.
Chris Cascio, the club lacrosse president commented on the weather saying “when the weather isn’t cooperating, opportunities to score have to be increased, and we did well in creating those.”
As the second quarter started the rain began to fall on Stadium Red but that did not stop the Red Dragons from wreaking havoc on the field. The second quarter was a master class on the defensive side for #23 Peter Hespe. The junior defenseman out of MacArthur high school forced multiple turnovers, created multiple scoring opportunities with outlet passes and helped force the Danes to a scoreless second frame.
A few of those chances created by Hespe led to goals on the other end. Matt Thrasher the senior midfielder, had an immediate impact once he was on the field. Playing physical with the defenders pushing one to the ground to control the ball and then scoring on the very next play.
The half ended with a score of 4-1 in favor of Cortland.
The second half started and it quickly turned into a game as the Danes Chris Smith who netted three goals in the game scored two within the first couple of minutes in the half.
Despite the attempted comeback this seemed to be the turning point in the game for the Dragons as they began to completely dominate the time of possession.
“Having a lot of time with possession of the ball is key in games like yesterday, we had backups on almost every shot,” said Cascio.
At one point they had offensive zone control for more than 4 straight minutes which ended with a wicked bounce shot that had the goalie lost.
The Danes goalie, Danny Coleman, who found himself on the losing side of the score, despite this he still had a great game in net. For the constant offensive pressure the Dragons were forcing upon him he managed to save 19 shots.
After a third quarter buzzer beating goal by #11 in red and white Jack Paton the Red Dragons had nothing left to do besides put this game to bed.
The game ended with a score of 9-4 in favor of Cortland, their second win in as many attempts. The Red Dragons hope to continue their winning ways next week when they head down to Maryland to face off against #9 Vermont, #2 Ohio State, and #3 Maryland.
To find out more about the Club Lacrosse team check out their Instagram @Cortland_club_lacrosse.