OWINGS MILLS, MD. – Cortland, ranked fifth nationally in the USILA Division III Preseason Coaches Poll and the defending Division III national champion, opened defense of its title with a 10-9 loss at Villa Julie on Saturday afternoon.

The Mustangs opened up a 3-0 lead after the opening quarter and stretched their lead to 5-1 early in the second before the Red Dragons closed the opening half with four straight scores to make it a 5-5 game at the half. Cortland grabbed its only lead of the day when senior Mike Felice (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) notched an unassisted score at 11 minutes, 21 seconds of the third quarter. Villa Julie responded with three straight goals to take an 8-6 lead late in the quarter. The Red Dragons cut the lead to 8-7 with 1:13 to go in the third when junior Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) set up junior Billy Fuchs' (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) second goal of the game.

Villa Julie again answered with the next goal at the 12:44 mark of the fourth to regain a two-goal edge. Six minutes later, Fuchs set up junior Kyle Simensky's (Locust Valley) second goal of the game and Cortland trailed 9-8. Just 42 seconds later, the Mustangs upped their lead to 10-8. The Red Dragons pulled to within 10-9 with 3:27 remaining on junior Adam Hyde's (West Seneca/West Seneca East) unassisted goal but were unable to score the equalizer down the stretch.

Fuchs finished with two goals and an assist, and Felice finished with a goal and two assists. Heath had one goal and an assist, while Simensky finished with two goals for Cortland.

Sophomore Matt Hipenbecker (Mountain Lakes, NJ/Mountain Lakes) started in goal for Cortland and made nine saves in 52:18. Sophomore Michael Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) stopped two shots in 7:42.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  0  5  2  2 -  9
VJML2007............  3  2  3  2 - 10
 
CORTLAND SCORING:
GOALS: Billy Fuchs 2; Kyle Simensky 2; Mike Felice 1; Ryan Heath 1;
       Adam Hyde 1; Bill Gleason 1; Kevin Keown 1.
ASSISTS: Mike Felice 2; Billy Fuchs 1; Ryan Heath 1; Ryan Simensky 1.
 
VJML2007 SCORING:
GOALS: Nicola Bevacqua 4; Andrew White 2; Dustin Harlowe 1;
       Trevor Giancola 1; Jimmy Dailey 1; Chris Baldwin 1.
ASSISTS: Greg Furshman 1; Zach Walsh 1; Andrew White 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  7 17  2 13 - 39
VJML2007............  9  5 15 11 - 40
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  7 12  7  5 - 31
VJML2007............  5  9  9 11 - 34
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  3-3   4-8   2-6   1-5  - 10-22
VJML2007............  0-3   4-8   4-6   4-5  - 12-22
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  2-2   5-5   3-4   3-4  - 13-15
VJML2007............  3-4   2-2   3-3   2-2  - 10-11
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  0-0   0-1   0-0   0-1  -  0-2
VJML2007............  1-1   0-0   1-4   0-0  -  2-5
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  2  1  5  5 - 13
VJML2007............  2  8  0  6 - 16
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
CORTLAND............  3  3  8  5 - 19
VJML2007............  2  6  6  4 - 18
 
PENALTIES - CORTLAND 5/4:30; VJML2007 2/2:00.

2007-02-24