“PLAY FOR THE SENIORS!”
That was the cry heard from the men’s club lacrosse huddle as the team hosted Union and Cornell on Sunday.
Ultimately, these were the last games played for the clubs fifteen seniors.
The club lost and won a game and did not make the NCLL Division I playoffs this semester.
Club President Noah Rojas was among one of the fifteen seniors who played their last game.
“Realistically we could have played better,” Rojas said. “I think the guys are just beat up from the last few games, sticks were wet, guys were cold and wanted to go home,”
They played Union at Noon and Cornell at 3:00, both games were played at SUNY Cortland Stadium White.
Game One: Cortland vs. Union
The rain was coming down before the first whistle of Cortland’s first game against Union. The ball was wet and the play surface was slippery.
Cortland started off the game going up 1-0. The defense was playing great and both goalies were making big time stops.
Offensively both teams struggled to start this game. The missed passes and arrent throws were common for both sides in this game.
After a turnover by Cortland, Union capitalized with a goal making the game tied 1-1.
Union would then go up 2-1 after the ball escaped from Cortland’s possession on a clear.
After multiple missed shots from Cortland, the referee blew the whistle for half time.
Chris Macaluso, the team’s player-coach and one of the seniors, gathered the team together.
“We need to slow it down on offense in the second half. We are just getting the ball and going, we need to slow down,” Macaluso said.
To start the second half, Cortland was down a man from a penalty that happened in the end of the first half.
Union took control early in the scored, putting Union up 3-1. After another quick Union goal, Cortland called for a timeout to regroup and rehydrate.
Soon after the timeout, Cortland went up a player after a Union penalty and scores making the score 4-2. Immediately after the next face off, Cortland made another shot on net and made the score 4-3.
With two minutes left Cortland made a stop on defense. The ball got cleared to the offense, and the offense was able to put the ball in the goal to tie it 4-4.
There were four minutes added to the clock for sudden death overtime.
Union put the ball in the net with just under two minutes left and won the game 5-4.
Game Two: Cortland vs. Cornell
When the game started at 3:00 the sun was out with a little drizzle of rain.
To start the game, both teams were trading shots on goal with no shots going in, until Cornell buried one in the back on the net making it 1-0.
A Cortland defender made a big hit that knocked the stick out of the other player’s hand –yard sale- which led to Cortland tying the game 1-1
Cortland’s goalie Ralph Turre made a big save after the next faceoff and Cortland got the ball cleared the ball to the offense and score, putting them up 2-1.
Cornell quickly struck back and put another one in the goal, which tied it back up at 2- 2. Immediately after the next faceoff Cornell scored again, putting them up 3-2.
Before halftime, Cortland scooped up a big ground ball and scored, tying the game 3-3 right before the half time break.
The start of the second half brought rain down again, and the field began to get slippery again.
The missed passes and bad throws began to pile up due to the weather in this game.
A Cortland attackman pulled off a great swim move to get past his defender and score, putting Cortland up 4-3. Cortland quickly put in another goal off the faceoff, putting them up 5-3.
Cornell was finally able to get something going in the second half, putting in two goals in the last two minutes of the game. The score was now tied 5-5 at the end of regulation.
Cortland found themselves in another sudden death overtime game for the day.
Cortland quickly handled business and scored, winning the game 6-5 to cap off their year.