The men's lacrosse team, ranked 12th in Division III, were defeated by #3 Cortland State, 8-7 on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. Cortland advances to play the three-time defending national champion Middlebury College Panthers this Sunday.
Hamilton took a 1-0 lead midway through the first quarter as senior Sean Lackaye (New York/Fordham Prep) set up the first of four goals by senior Matt Silverio (Villanova, PA/Radnor). Cortland took a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter on a man-up goal by Roth and a score by Degnan, both assisted by senior Derek Elvin (Orchard Park). Cortland netted the only goal in a tightly played second quarter as Roth found the back of the net at the 5:24 mark to give the Red Dragons a 3-1 lead at intermission.
After Silverio pulled the Continentals to within 3-2 with a goal in the first minute of play of the third quarter, Cortland appeared to take command with three straight goals for a 6-2 lead. Roth assisted Degnan at 7:47. Freshman Kyle Lambert (Brentwood) netted an unassisted goal at 2:27, and Roth tallied his third of the game at 1:29 with Cortland a man up. Hamilton, however, stole the momentum with two goals in the final 29 seconds of the quarter. Silverio scored his third goal, then sophomore Jim Henry (Sewickley, PA/Sewickley Academy) scored off a wild scramble in front with six seconds remaining in the quarter to pull within 6-4.
The Continentals continued their run as Lackaye assisted Silverio for a second time to make it a 6-5 game just 20 seconds into the final 15 minutes. Degnan stopped the run for Cortland less than a minute later, but Hamilton quickly answered with goals from freshman Jack Newton (Darien, CT) and Henry to tie the game at 7-7 with 10:20 remaining. Lambert netted the game-winning goal at the 9:40 mark off Roth's second assist, and Cortland held on as senior goalie Steve Feltmann (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) came up with a number of big saves late.
The Continentals had an opportunity to work for the game-tying goal, as they had possession of the ball with less than a minute remaining. Just as the team signaled for a timeout, Hamilton was called for too many men and turned the ball over to the Red Dragons, who were able to run out the clock and claim the win.
Feltmann turned aside 15 shots for Cortland, while senior Jason Mleczko (Nantucket, MA) registered 14 saves for the Continentals.
Hamilton finishes the season with a 15-3 record, the most in the program's history.
