May 17, 2025

#13 Cortland Drops 14-5 Decision at #3 RIT in NCAA Quarterfinals

Cortland

19-3

Rochester Inst.

21-1

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Cortland (19-3)	2	1	2	0	5
Rochester Inst. (21-1)	5	5	3	1	14

Cortland Sports Information Department

ROCHESTER, NY – The nationally 13th-ranked Cortland men's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 14-5 loss at nationally third-ranked RIT in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Div. III Tournament.

Cortland ends the season with a 19-3 record, while RIT improves to 21-1 and advances to face the winner of Dickinson and RPI in the national semifinals on Sunday.

Travis Wagner (Penfield) stopped 12 shots in goal for the Red Dragons. Alex Thrasher (Vestal) recorded three caused turnovers and three ground balls, while Christian Lembo (Farmingdale) contributed two caused turnovers and four ground balls.

Sean Kavanagh (North Canton, OH/Hoover) and Connor Cosgrove (Warwcik/Don Bosco Prep) each scored a goal and an assist to lead Cortland. Sam Rothman (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East), Klay Stuver (Fairport), and Nick Stoecker (East Setauket/Ward Melville) scored a goal apiece for the Red Dragons.

Alex Zborowski made 16 saves for the Tigers. Clifford Gaston scored four times, Ian Dinga added two goals and an assist, Logan Fletcher scored twice, and Nate Senez contributed a goal and two assists.
Just over a minute into the contest, RIT opened the scoring with a goal from Dinga after forcing a turnover on the first Red Dragon possession. The Tigers doubled their advantage with another caused turnover and a transition goal with 12:52 remaining.

With 12:09 left in the quarter, the game was put in a lightning delay that lasted two hours and two minutes.

After the restart, Thrasher caused a turnover and scooped up a ground ball for the Red Dragons, leading to a goal by Klay Stuver off a feed from Kavanagh. The Tigers responded with a trio of goals to push the lead to 5-1 with 6:58 left.

Kavanagh broke the Tigers' run of three goals in a row, taking a pass from Ryan Scanlon (Cornelius, NC/William Amos Hough) in front of goal and depositing a low shot into the back of the net with 4:45 remaining for a 5-2 Cortland deficit at the end of the quarter.

RIT extended the advantage to five at 7-2 with a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the second quarter.

Cosgrove scored a goal to bring Cortland within four with 7:47 remaining, intercepting a pass from the Tigers, and firing a shot from just inside the midfield line into an empty goal as the RIT goalkeeper was caught out of the goal. RIT closed the half with three consecutive goals to lead 10-3 at halftime.

After nearly five minutes of scoreless action to open the third quarter, Rothman netted a goal off a feed from Nathan Nagengast (Bay Shore) to pull to within six goals with 10:15 left in the third quarter.

Chase Bruno responded with a goal for the Tigers less than a minute later. Stoecker netted Cortland's final goal of the contest to make it 11-5 with 3:37 left in the frame, but Gaston scored just nine seconds later to re-establish a seven-goal advantage for RIT.

RIT scored a goal with 11 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and scored the only goal of the fourth quarter with 7:05 left in the contest to complete the victory.