Cortland Splits All-Star Weekend
This weekend was not very kind to the Dragons of Cortland. In the final weekend of the regular season, the team faced off against Drexel, Baruch, Stony Brook, and Delaware. The 4 games that needed to be played were make or break for Cortland. Spots 2 through 6 in the conference were still up for grabs, and although the Dragons were guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, their spot in the standings would be crucial to their success.
The weekend began with a game against the Drexel Dragons, who Cortland was yet to face during this season. Led by All Star selection and assistant captain Tom Hughes’ 2 goal game, the Dragons defeated Drexel by a score of 4-2. Goalie Nick Marrone had a notable game in net with 24 saves on 26 shots. His performance warranted him the first star of the game award.
Coming off of a close game with Drexel, Cortland took on the Bearcats of Baruch College. The team had already played Baruch earlier in the season and defeated them 7-2. This game proved to be a much different story, however. Cortland recorded just 16 shots on goal and was shutout 3-0. The team struggled all game to produce offensive chances, and Baruch took advantage of their own. This was a tough loss for the team to handle, but they couldn’t dwell on it because they had to play Stony Brook later that day.
In the game against Stony Brook, the Cortland offense struggled once again. Defenseman John Wagner had the lone goal for the Dragons in a 5-1 loss against the Sea Wolves. Stony Brook nearly doubled Cortland’s 18 shots and were led to victory by an impressive 4 point game from Jason Wally. Wally recorded a goal and 3 assists in the game. With back-to-back losses, Cortland doubled their loss total, giving them a record of 13-4.
The final game of the regular season saw a rematch of the 6-5-shootout thriller vs. the Delaware Blue Hens earlier in the year. This game saw the return of Dan Nelson, who had missed the first 3 games of the weekend. He certainly made his presence felt as he netted 4 goals in the game, one of which was the game winner with 1:39 left on the clock in overtime. The win was much needed and gave the Dragons their 14th win of the season. This key win also allowed them to finish in 3rd place overall in the conference.