CORTLAND, N.Y. – Junior Erich Dehm (Mendon/Honeoye Falls-Lima) scored his only goal of the game with 2.3 seconds remaining to left the Geneseo men's lacrosse team to a thrilling 16-15 victory over Cortland Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the SUNYAC Tournament. With the win, the Knights improved to 9-4 on the season and earned an automatic NCAA bid. The Red Dragons fell to 12-5 on the season and await a possible at-large berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Senior Mike Felice (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) led the Cortland offense with five goals and an assist, including four scores in the second half as the Red Dragons fought back from a five-goal deficit. Junior Adam Hyde (West Seneca/West Seneca East) had four goals and an assist, sophomore Joey Morgan (Putnam Valley) recorded two goals and an assist, junior Billy Fuchs (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) netted two goals and juniors Josh Cittadino (Baldwin) and Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) each scored once. Sophomore Michael Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) registered five saves.

For Geneseo, senior Owahn Bazydlo (Syracuse/Corcoran) scored six points on four goals and two assists and was named the co-Most Valuable Player. Senior close defender Phil Gardner (Syracuse/ Corcoran), who guarded Heath most of the afternoon, was also named co- Most Valuable Player for the Knights. Junior Mike Pizzuto (Amherst) registered four goals and an assist, senior Colin Ireland (West Islip) had two goals and an assist, sophomore Jim Fiacco (Jamesville/ Jamesville-Dewitt) netted two goals, sophomore Dan Balestra (Camillus/ West Genesee) added a goal and two assists and junior Tim McDermott (Cortland/Homer) and Dehm collected a goal and an assist each. Senior goalie Tim Garback (Syracuse/Henninger) made 15 saves.

In a wild game that belied the usual defensive struggles between the teams, Geneseo erased a 4-2 first-quarter deficit by outscoring Cortland, 8-2, leading up to halftime for a 10-6 lead. Bazydlo found the back of the net three straight times and Pizzuto and Fiacco each scored twice during the run. After Ireland made it an 11-6 game in the first minute of the third quarter, Cortland mounted a comeback with four consecutive scores, three from Felice and one from Hyde, to pull to within 11-10 at the 5:13 mark of the third. Geneseo stemmed the momentum with two goals, but Hyde and Felice closed the quarter with goals at 26 and 12 seconds, respectively, to cut the lead to 13-12 entering the final quarter.

Heath tied the game at 12:51 after a Geneseo turnover, but the Knights reclaimed the lead, 15-13, on scores from Bazydlo and sophomore Tom Costanza (Webster/Webster Schroeder). Fuchs cut the lead to 15-14 at 3:30 off a feed from junior Kyle Simensky (Locust Valley). Geneseo was assessed a one-minute personal penalty at the time of the goal, but Cortland couldn't capitalize. Twenty seconds after the penalty expired, however, Morgan knotted the game with a high, hard shot at the 2:20 mark. With time winding down, Cortland held possession and Felice eventually worked for a shot from the left side with less than 10 seconds left that Garback saved. After it appeared Geneseo threw the ball away on a clear, the Knights were awarded possession at midfield with 7.5 seconds left. Bazydlo ran the ball into the box and found Dehm on the left side, who fired the game- winner past Robinson.

Heath, Hyde, Morgan and Felice were each named to the All-Tournament Team for Cortland. Joining Bazydlo and Gardner on the All-Tournament Team were McDermott, Pizzuto and sophomore Steven DuFlo (Jamesville/ Jamesville-Dewitt). Rounding out the team were Tim Burns and Neal Campbell from Oneonta and Brian Hondorf and Matt Vaverchak from Potsdam.

Team (Record)    1    2    3    4    Final
Geneseo (9-4)    5    5    3    3      16
Cortland (12-5)  4    2    6    3      15

Scoring (Goals-Assists):

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2007-05-05