No. 5 Cortland Pulls Away from Plattsburgh

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Fifth-ranked Cortland broke open a close game by outscoring Plattsburgh, 6-1, in the fourth quarter to earn a 14-5 win Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Red Dragons improved to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the SUNYAC, while the Cardinals fell to 10-6 and 3-3.

Junior Mike Tota (Webster/Webster Schroeder) paced the Cortland offense with four goals and two assists. Freshman Joe Slavik (Binghamton/Seton Catholic) tallied a pair of goals, senior Neal Hopps (Akwesasne/Massena) contributed one goal and a career-best four assists and juniors Zack Mulvaney (Deferiet/Carthage), Eric Richards (Skaneateles) and Greg Wright (Irondequoit/West Irondequoit) each had a goal and an assist.

Junior Matt Hoey (Auburn) collected two assists, and four other players scored one goal apiece. Senior Justin Battino (Plainview) won 14 of 15 faceoffs and collected a game-high seven ground balls, and senior Chris DeLuca (Sayville) won 6 of 7 faceoffs as Cortland won 21 of 23 in the game. Freshman goalie Scott Tota (Webster/Webster Schroeder) made 12 saves.

Senior Kyle Norchi (Hauppauge) and sophomore Joey Kramer (Lindenhurst) led the Cardinals with two goals each. Freshman Charlie Dullea (Brasher Falls/St. Lawrence) netted a goal and junior Pete Morgan (Putnam Valley) and sophomore Brett McClelland (Oswego) chipped in with one assist. Junior goalie Danny Caufield (Rochester/McQuaid) made 17 saves in 54 minutes, 21 seconds. Sophomore Gordie Gehring (Jamesville/Jamesville-DeWitt) stopped two shots in 5:39.

2011-04-30