Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Meeting for the second year in a row in the NCAA Division III men's lacrosse tournament semifinals, defending national champion Cortland St. (15-5) knocked off Wesleyan University (18-3), 9-8, setting up a repeat of last year's national championship game vs. Salisbury University.  Cortland defeated Salisbury 13-12 in overtime a year ago to capture its first Division III title.  Cortland is playing in its 16th NCAA Division III tournament and seventh in a row.  Wesleyan has been to the NCAA playoffs three times, all in the last three seasons.  Undefeated Salisbury (21-0), which took NCAA titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005, got by Gettysburg, 9-6, in its semi-final Saturday as the Gulls are in NCAA Division III tournament number-25 with six crowns in total.

Cortland and Wesleyan headed into the final quarter deadlocked at 6-6.  Junior Billy Fuchs broke the tie for the Red Dragons at 11:05 as he caught a pass from sophomore Joey Morgan deep on the right side and put a high shot into the net from a sharp angle.  It was his second of three goals on the day as he scored Cortland's final goal at 8:39 with a wide-open play just off the crease to make it 9-6 and it proved to be the deciding goal, his 49th of the season.  That concluded a 5-0 Red Dragon run as Wesleyan had erased a 4-2 deficit midway through the second period with three quick strikes in a span of just 52 seconds to take a 5-4 lead at intermission. 

Scoring for the Cardinals were freshman Lonnie Blumenthal, junior Grayson Connors and senior Mike Hines, with the Hines goal coming at 1:23.  When freshman Jon Killeen, recently named NESCAC and New England Division III Rookie of the Year, put one home from the left side off a feed from Hines, Wesleyan had its largest lead of the game at 6-4 less than a minute into the second half. 

Fuchs initiated the Cortland run at 7:42 when senior Mike Felice intercepted a Wesleyan pass at the top of the box and spotted Fuchs open down the middle, making it a 6-5 game.  Junior Ryan Heath, the SUNYAC Player of the Year,  netted his team-leading 50th goal of the season and second of the game to even the count at 6-6 at 5:18 as he caught a pass in the middle from junior Kyle Simensky, pivoted and fired it past Wesleyan senior goalie Charlie Congleton, who collected 12 saves on the day.  Heath had a three-point day, giving him 82 on the season, as he assisted on Felice's goal at 8:46 of the third period, Cortland's eighth of the contest.

Wesleyan fought back with a pair of late goals, one coming off the stick of Hines with 4:41 to go as his hard, high shot ricocheted off the body of Cortland sophomore goalie Michael Robinson (10 saves) and caught the underside of the crossbar before hitting the twine.  At 2:25, sophomore Jason Ben-Eliyahu scored his second goal of the game and team-high 38th of the year after sophomore defender Spike Malangone carried the ball deep into the Cortland zone and passed right to Ben-Eliyahu for his low shot.

Wesleyan had two possessions in the Cortland end in the final minute as a bounce shot by Connors was saved by Robinson with :50 to go but Cortland lost the ball out-of-bounds, giving the Cardinals the ball with :45 remaining.  Wesleyan was unable to get off another shot as the ball was eventually knocked free by Cortland at the top of the box with :10 to go, picked up and thrown out of harm's way to preserve the win and a second straight trip to the title game.

There were only four penalties called in the contest, all against Cortland with three coming simultaneously to three different players at the :08 mark of the first period.  With the three-man advantage, Wesleyan got off one shot in close early in the second stanza as the penalties spilled over but Robinson made the stop and the ball was picked up by sophomore defender Luke Lemon and heaved the length of the field to effectively kill off the remaining seconds.  Cortland was leading 3-2 at the time.

Cortland faces Salisbury Sunday, May 27 at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore at 1:30 p.m. for the NCAA Championship.