The Cortland men’s lacrosse team lost to the Ithaca Bombers by a close final score of 12-11 on Wednesday night in an exciting lacrosse match. The Bombers, who are currently 7-7 on the season, presented an enormous challenge for the Red Dragons, who are now 8-4 overall.
From the beginning to the end, neither team had a lead larger than two goals in the match. Into the fourth quarter, Ithaca led by a slim margin of 9-8. There was a lot of back-and-forth play in the final quarter. With just under ten minutes left, Sramac tied the score at 10-10 for Ithaca after Ryan Scanlon and Caden Yancey scored goals for Cortland.
“I’m really proud of the way that the guys fought throughout the game to keep it close,” said Yancey. “It’s hard to play down and have to comeback, especially against a rival like Ithaca. We just didn’t do enough of what we needed to do to get the victory.”
The Bombers led 12-10 in the last minutes thanks to quick back-to-back goals from Wallace and Gianuzzi. Ithaca won the faceoff and ran out the clock to hold on for a 12-11 victory, but Scanlon was able to score a goal with 38 seconds remaining thanks to a critical mistake forced by Cortland’s Tucker Macknik.
“Even though we didn’t end up with the victory, it is still really fun to play in a rivalry game like that,” said Scanlon. “Hats off to Ithaca for being able to keep their lead throughout the game, but we didn’t play how we are capable of playing and that is what made the loss really suck.”
With an outstanding three goals, Scanlon led Cortland’s offense. In addition to Klay Stuver’s two goals and one assist, the team received contributions from Sam Rothman and Ryan Eccles. Additionally, Yancey, Bobby Kratochvil, and Sean Kavanagh each scored one goal. For the Red Dragons, Nick Stoeker dished out three assists.
Cortland’s goalie, Travis Wagner, produced nine key saves during the contest. Alex Thrasher collected two ground balls and forced three turnovers on the defensive end. Stoeker added four ground balls and Macknik added two.
“Unfortunately we didn’t play great at the faceoff x, which made us play a lot of defense,” said Wagner. “For the large amount of defense that we did play, I felt that we played really well and didn’t let the game get out of hand in favor of Ithaca.”
With four goals, John Sramac of Ithaca was the game’s highest goal scorer. Charlie Niebuhr added two goals and an assist, while Sam Baker scored three goals right after. Cole Corrigan, the goal for the Bombers, made seven saves to help preserve the win.
Cortland fought hard and matched Itaca’s energy throughout the game, but ultimately lost. Lacrosse fans witnessed an entertaining match as both sides showed remarkable perseverance.
As a result, Ithaca’s record currently sits at 7-7 and Cortland’s at 8-4 for the season. As their respective seasons go, both clubs will aim to improve on this performance while they make a push for the playoffs.