The nationally ranked Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team was upset on March 29, falling to archrival ninth-ranked SUNY Cortland, 12-11 in overtime.
Despite the first quarter being deadlocked at 0–0 for the first seven minutes, the Bombers captured an early 6–0 lead off two goals from senior captain and attacker John Januszkiewicz, and one each from sophomore midfielder Josh Della Puca, junior attacker Kaelan Fitzpatrick, senior attacker Jack Shumway and junior attacker Jake Cotton.
The Red Dragons scored with 43 seconds left in the first quarter as junior midfielder T.J. deLyra went unassisted to pull one back.
However, sophomore attacker Will Witter ended the first quarter as he drove home a shot with three seconds remaining off a feed from Cotton to give the South Hill squad a 7–1 advantage.
Cotton picked up his second goal of the game just under five minutes into the second quarter to extend the Bomber lead to 8–1.
Not long after, sophomore midfielder Joey Panariello caught fire, netting two goals in under two minutes, bringing the Red Dragons within five of the Bombers.
But the Blue and Gold hit back, this time with sophomore midfielder Conner Crosson who made it 9–3 in favor of the Bombers.
The lead was extended again just 18 seconds later by Januszkiewicz who scored with an assist from Shumway to give the Bombers a 10–3 lead heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Panariello scored again just two and half minutes into the quarter to bring the Red Dragons up 10–4 before Crosson found Witter for another Bomber goal and a new lead of 11–4.
After conceding the goal where the Red Dragons offense caught fire, scoring seven straight goals, four of them unassisted, throughout the third and fourth quarters to even up the game at 11–11.
During that span, junior attacker Thomas McNaney snagged a hat trick just over eight and a half minutes into the fourth quarter.
Even at the end of second half, the game moved into sudden overtime where both teams took quick timeouts after gaining possession in an attempt to set up the game-winning score.
In the end, junior midfielder Nate Beresovoy of the Red Dragons brought the ball around from behind the net to set up a shot that hit the lower right corner of the goal, securing a 12–11 upset win for Cortland.
Senior goalkeeper Jack Deragon made 13 saves in the Bomber effort, while junior midfielder Steven Landspurg corralled a game-high six groundballs and went seven for eight on the faceoff.
Cotton and Januszkiewicz each recorded four points in the loss.
The Bombers have two days off before playing next at 1 p.m. on April 1 as they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to face Empire 8 foes, Stevens Institute of Technology.
