FELICE AND HEATH POWER RED DRAGONS PAST

SAINTS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

May 12: The No. 12 Cortland State Red Dragons continued their success in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, as the defending National Champions topped No. 5 St. Lawrence University in the Second Round of the 2007 Tournament. Cortland (13-5) used a five-goal second quarter and an outstanding day from senior Mike Felice, who notched six points (5g,1a) as the Red Dragons advanced to play Western New England College in the National Quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the Saints season, which saw the Scarlet and Brown climb to the highest ranking in the Division III polls in the program’s history, comes to an end with a 14-2 overall mark.

St. Lawrence’s last loss at home came on April 16th, 2005 , but the Red Dragons used a consistent defensive pressure in the midfield to give them an upper hand and converted several important goals in transition.

The visitors scored the game’s first goal at 7:04 when Cortland ’s Billy Fuchs picked up a turnover to

St. Lawrence goaltender Justin Demuth’s left and caught the senior netminder out of position to give his team a 1-0 advantage. St. Lawrence would answer 3:25 later when sophomore Peter Carroll connected with fellow classmate Kyle Benton in front, and the Brasher Falls, NY native ripped a shot past Cortland ’s Michael Robinson to even the score.

With the first quarter winding down, though, Cortland’s leading scorer Ryan Heath found Ryan Simensky to Demuth’s left, and his shot under the cross bar beat the Saints goalie to give the Red Dragons a 2-1 lead after one quarter.

After a penalty was given to Fuchs at the end of the quarter for slashing, St. Lawrence took advantage with a man-up goal only 25 seconds into the second quarter to again tie the score at 2-2. First year student Will McKee took a pass from junior Kevin Russell, beat his defender to the left post and slipped a shot behind Robinson for the team’s second goal.

Cortland ’s resiliency began to show with the game tied at 2-2, though, as the Red Dragons ran off four straight goals to open up a 6-2 advantage. Fuchs and Heath worked a solid 2-on-1 to give their team a 3-2 lead, then Simensky found Felice for his first goal of the day 2:39 into the second quarter to make it 4-2 in favor of Cortland State.

The Red Dragons ball movement continued to hurt the Saints less than two minutes later, when a heads up pass from Kevin Kliszczewicz found Simensky right in front of Demuth for the team’s fifth goal. Cortland ’s four-goal run finished with Joey Morgan taking a pass from Fuchs and beating Demuth for a 6-2 lead.

Trailing by four goals for the first time all season, the Saints looked to claw back into the game when senior Nick Mastine scored an unassisted goal at 8:45 of the second quarter to bring the score to 6-3. The Erin, Ontario native made a strong move to his left around a defender and launched a hard shot that beat Robinson to end the Cortland run.

The defending national champions would bounce right back, though, and capitalize on a turnover to grab a 7-3 lead at halftime. With the Saints struggling to clear the ball, Demuth fired a pass into the midfield that was intercepted by Felice. He sent a long feed up ahead to Heath who was behind the SLU defense and he fired a low shot from just outside the crease to give Cortland a 7-3 halftime edge.

Though the Saints had hoped to grab the early momentum to dig out of their four-goal deficit, it wasn’t meant to be as Simensky scored his third goal of the afternoon to put Cortland ahead 8-3 only 1:24 into the third quarter.

However, the Saints were able to kill off a three-man advantage for Cortland following the goal, and appeared to finally have swung the momentum in their favor when they scored back-to-back goals at 11:47 of the third and 1:16 into the fourth to pull to within three goals at 8-5. After McKee completed the third quarter scoring to make the score 8-4, Demuth sent a long outlet pass to junior Mike Long. Long did the rest, avoiding one defender, faking another on a pump-fake, and firing a rocket past Robinson to make the score 8-5 early in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, four penalties in the final quarter would do the Saints in, as Cortland State capitalized for two consecutive man-up goals, both by Felice, to build a 10-5 lead. After Russell tried to get the Saints

kick-started with a goal from Robinson’s right side with 7:20 remaining in regulation, a man-up turnover created a transition opportunity for the Red Dragons. Heath and Felice proved to be too much, working around Demuth and scoring a man-down goal to make the score 11-6 with 5:57 to play.

“Our game plan was to try and spread St. Lawrence’s defense out to try and open up some good looks, and it went well for us,” said Cortland State head coach Steve Beville.

The Scarlet and Brown would make one final push, as seniors Andy Centauro and Willie Lapinski tallied consecutive unassisted goals to bring St. Lawrence back to within striking distance at 11-8 with 4:58 to play in regulation and forcing the Red Dragons to use a timeout. However, the ensuing face-off was won by Cortland , and Adam Hyde ended the Saints run with an unassisted goal at 10:53 . Finally, Felice put it away with his fifth goal of the game only 29 seconds later to complete the scoring and move Cortland State into the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals with a 13-8 victory over St. Lawrence.

Cortland State finished with a 39-29 advantage in shots, a 30-25 edge in ground balls, and won 13-of-23 face-offs.

“We knew we had to push the ball and work to get good shots against them, and we were fortunate to get them,” said Felice, who now has 51 points in the 2007 season (32g,19a).

“Their transition game was better than ours, and they capitalized on their chances,” said St. Lawrence senior captain Brian Crowley. “I’ve been here four years and it’s been a great run. Getting to the NCAA Tournament the last two years has been great for the program.”

This afternoon’s game at North Country Field was the last for the Saints ten seniors, including Demuth, Crowley , Mastine, Lapinski, Centauro, Brad Liston, Brendan Lynch, JJ Hearty, Rick Slingluff and Trevor Rainville.

Cortland State will square off with WNEC on Wednesday, May 16th with a spot in the NCAA Final Four on the line.