Semifinal
In the ECAC Men's Division III Upstate lacrosse semifinals,
fourth-seeded Potsdam exploded for five goals in the second quarter
to take an 8-4 halftime lead over the top-seeded Saints and held on
for a 17-11 victory. The Bears improved to 7-5 overall and prepared
to face Rensselaer in the championship game on the North Country
Field at St. Lawrence University. The Saints ended their season 10-5
overall.
In an evenly matched first quarter, Brian Austin opened the scoring at 9:32 to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Lucas Moore evened the score at 1-1, and Daniel Usaj assisted Michael Santini in giving the Saints a one-goal lead at 5:54. Potsdam evened the score at 2-2 and then answered a third St. Lawrence goal before Jason Roundpoint scored from Brendan Brew to give the Saints a 4-3 edge heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter belonged to the Bears as they temporarily halted the Saints scoring while they went on to fire off five goals to boost them to an 8-4 halftime lead.
Dennis Logan opened the third with an unassisted goal for the Saints; however, Potsdam could not be quieted as they extended their lead to 11-5 after scoring three in a row. The Bears out-scored the Saints 4 to 2 in the remainder of the quarter and led 15-7 as they headed into the final quarter, in which both teams scored twice more.
The Bears outshot the Saints 49-38 and were led in scoring by Brian Austin, who netted seven goals and had one assist for an eight-point game. Sherm Grant, Tom Patrigianono, Geoff Eliopolis and Joe Sacco all scored two goals while Grant and Patrigianoni each added an assist. Jeff Smith played the entire game in goal and had nine stops for Potsdam.
Jason Roundpoint led the Saints with three goals. Lucas Moore scored twice and Spencer Jones, Mike Santini and Jeff Overman had one goal and one assist each. Chad Cooper played all 60 minutes in goal and had 16 saves for the Saints.
Championship Game
In the championship game, the Potsdam Bears jumped to an
early 5-0 lead and held a 12-6 halftime advantage but could not hold
on, as the Rensselaer Red Hawks came charging back in the fourth and
took their first lead of the game, 17-16, with 1:25 left in
regulation. The Bears tied the game with 00:57 to go, but RPI was
determined to win and scored the game-winning goal with 00:42
remaining. The Red Hawks have picked up their second ECAC Division
III lacrosse championship in the last three years and end their
season with an outstanding record of 10-4.
In the first quarter, the Bears opened the scoring with five consecutive goals and rolled to an early 8-2 lead over top-seeded Rensselaer. Potsdam extended their lead to as much as seven goals in the second and remained on top 12-6 at the half.
The Red Hawks began their comeback in the third as they outscored the Bears 6-3 and trailed by only three, 15-12, headed into the final quarter. Joe Sacco, assisted by Mike Stone, netted a goal at 13:42 to cushion the Bears lead; however, it could not stand up to five unanswered goals by RPI. David Perlman started the Red Hawks scoring streak as he netted a goal from Craig Esteves at 12:00 to make it a 16-13 game. Tom Terzulli, assisted by Ben Terzulli, scored next, followed by a goal from Andrei Lombardi with Joe Battaglia on the assist. The Red Hawks were within a goal of Potsdam and at 2:08 Battaglia scored the tying goal unassisted and Ben Terzulli gave Rensselaer their first lead of the game at 1:25. Potsdam's Joe Sacco, assisted by Bubba Aryassian, tied the game at 17-17 before Battaglia, who was selected as the MVP of the tournament, set up the shot for Peter Straunton, who scored the game-winning goal with just 00:42 left on the clock.
Rensselaer was led by Battaglia, with five goals and two assists, and Ben Terzulli, who had three goals and four assists. David Perlman had a five-point game with four goals and one assist while Tom Terzulli added two goals and two assists. Zachary Paul and Matthew Goller combined for 14 saves for RPI.
Sherm Grant and Jed Hammill led the way for Potsdam as they each had a five-point game. Grant scored three goals and had two assists while Hammill netted four goals and added an assist. Joe Sacco tallied four goals and Brian Austin was good for one goal and two assists. Jeff Smith played 60 minutes in goal and made 10 stops for the Bears. Potsdam ended their season 7-6 overall.
For more information
The championship information and results are also available on the ECAC web site, www.ecac.com.
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