Two huge conference wins on Sunday have secured the Cortland Red Dragons men’s club lacrosse team another Empire East championship.
A 9-4 win over Cornell and a thrilling 9-8 overtime win over Union gave the red dragons two crucial bounce back wins after a disappointing three games in Maryland that saw Cortland only score one goal.
An early season loss against Cornell put Cortland in a must win situation going into Sunday, and it showed throughout the game. “We knew the stakes and we came out ready to roll”, said junior defenseman Peter Hespe, “I feel like as a defense we knew we could shut them down.”
To finish up the regular season, Cortland traveled to Binghamton to play the Bearcats this past Friday, followed by two games in Rochester against RIT and Rochester on Sunday. With a depleted team, the red dragons suffered a tough 6-5 loss to Binghamton that saw another stellar performance from the Cortland defense but in the end wasn’t enough to get the job done.
“We couldn’t get our offense going and it’s pretty frustrating sometimes because we know we are better than that,” said junior midfielder and vice president Gunnar Johnson. “It was very similar to some of those games in Maryland.”
After traveling up to Rochester, the red dragons came home with a split, beating Rochester 10-5 and losing to RIT 8-4. These non-conference games did affect Cortland’s overall record in their conference but played a role in momentum entering playoffs in a few weeks.
“It definitely ruins a little bit of our mojo coming after two huge wins and clinching the conference at home,” said junior defenseman and Secretary Nick DeFelice. “But I’m confident that at full strength these games might have gone a little different.”
Looking ahead, the red dragons have since clinched a playoff spot and look to travel to this year’s NCLL tournament held at Penn State University. After traveling to the University of Maryland and playing some of the competition that will be attending the playoffs it is obvious that Cortland is prepared for what is to come.
“Playing in Maryland was a big wake up call for us as a team,” said junior attackman Ricky Hill. “We know what is expected when we play these big schools and there is some pride in putting Cortland on the map when we travel to some of these schools.”
In the meantime, the red dragons will continue to prepare for whoever their opponents might end up being, as they have concluded another fantastic regular season and topped it off with their second consecutive Empire East championship.