UAlbany Edged in Sudden Death Overtime By Cornell in NCAA Lacrosse Championship's 'Elite Eight' Quarterfinals Cornell 12, UAlbany 11 (Sudden Death OverTime)
Princeton, N.J. – John Glynn scored with 4.8 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Cornell to a 12-11 victory over UAlbany in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship’s quarterfinal round on Saturday afternoon at Princeton Stadium. The Big Red advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1988.
UAlbany (15-3) trailed 11-9 in the fourth quarter, but sliced the deficit in half when Merrick Thomson netted a rebound after Cornell goalkeeper Matt McMonagle saved Corey Small’s initial blast. The Great Danes drew even with 17.8 seconds to play in regulation as Jordan Levine pivoted to his left and placed a low shot inside the right post.
Each team had scoring opportunities on the first series of possessions in the extra period. Levine just missed the net on a drive from the right side, before UAlbany goalkeeper Brett Queener made one of his 14 saves on a scramble in front of the crease. The Great Danes’ Tyler Endres later carried ball the ball into the Cornell offensive end, but was back-checked by Max Seibald. The situation led to the game-winning play when Eric Pittard found Glynn in front of the cage.
Cornell (15-0) reversed a 7-5 deficit with three goals in a 23-second span in the third quarter. Pittard, a senior attacker who had two goals and five assists, connected on a low underhanded shot from the left to tie the contest. UAlbany’s Dan Barnes won the subsequent face-off, but then his pass back to Queener was picked off by David Mitchell in front of the crease. Mitchell, who had four goals, found the empty net.
The Great Danes later scored twice seven seconds apart to draw even at nine apiece as the two teams combined for seven goals in the opening five minutes of the third stanza. John Alpizar, who totaled three goals and one assist, converted from the top of the crease on a drive from the left, before long-stick midfielder Chris Schongar scored unassisted off the following face-off. The Big Red, the nation’s top-ranked team and winner of three national titles in the 1970s, then went up 11-9 on a goals by Casey Lewis and Mitchell.
“It was a tough way to lose,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, whose team was ranked No. 2 in the nation for six consecutive weeks at one point during the season. “We left everything on the field and it took overtime to decide it. We knew were playing against a team with a similar style. Both goalkeepers were great. We were just one goal short of playing in front of 60,000 people.”
UAlbany jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter when Thomson and Small scored 44 seconds apart. The Big Red, who reached the NCAA quarterfinals for the fourth time in the last six years, regrouped to tie the contest at three apiece early in the second period when Seibald, who had two goals and two assists, converted in a man-advantage situation.
The Great Danes, who won their first-ever NCAA Tournament game last week in the first round, went back ahead on consecutive goals. Alpizar scored the first on a 15-yard blast, before he set up teammate Eric Wolf with a crossing pass to the right of the cage. Pittard drew Cornell even with 1:29 left before the break with a tough-angle shot from the right side off a nifty feed by Seibald. Frank Resetarits then gave Albany a halftime lead when he converted on his first shot of the contest with 2.7 seconds remaining in the period.
“This has been a special team playing with these guys,” said UAlbany’s Thomson, who finished his career as the school’s all-time scoring leader with 244 career points. “We hit our main goals and helped establish something here. They are good young kids in the program, so Albany is not going away.”
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