Dragons Make Regional Semifinal; Fall To Farmingdale
This past weekend was the ECRHA Regional Playoff Tournament in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. As mentioned in an earlier post, Cortland was set for games against Stony Brook, St. Joseph’s, Oswego, and Brockport. The team needed to have a strong performance in pool play to have hopes of getting into the elimination round, but it would not be an easy task.
The weekend started off with a game against Stony Brook. A somewhat dull first 2 periods saw Cortland up 3-2. Early in the 3rd, Stony Brook forward Jason Wally tied the game at 3. The teams traded goals throughout the period, but Cortland defenseman Dan Nelson had the final say when he scored with just 20 seconds left to defeat Stony Brook 5-4. Cortland followed their victory with a 4-3 loss against St. Joseph’s. The final two games saw Cortland come out victorious with an 8-0 win vs. Oswego and an 8-2 win vs. Brockport. With a pool record of 3-1, Cortland earned a spot in the elimination round where they would face off against the University of Delaware Blue Hens in the quarterfinals. Cortland went down 2-1 after the 1st period, and 4-1 after the second. The 3rd period was do or die for the Dragons, as a loss this early in the tournament would make it difficult to earn a Nationals bid. Defensemen John Wagner and Brian Danziger both tallied a goal less than a minute apart early in the 3rd period, which cut the Blue Hen lead to 4-3. For 8 minutes after Cortland’s pair of goals, Delaware regained the momentum and peppered Dragons goalie Nick Marrone. Marrone stood his ground and kept Cortland within a goal, that is, until Dragons defenseman Tyler Ballantyne scored with 55 seconds remaining in the game. Once again, Cortland scored in pairs as just 16 seconds later, freshman forward Chris Seeback netted what would be the game winner with less than a minute left.
With that win, Cortland secured a place in the semifinals against Farmingdale State, #1 team in the country. The Dragons did not fare well in this game and fell 8-3. The team finished 3rd overall in the tournament, which will give them a good chance to earn a Nationals bid. Tune into the NCRHA podcast tonight at 8PM EST to see if Cortland will be going to Missouri!