Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – The 11th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team (7-3) suffered an 8-7 overtime heartbreaker to eighth-ranked Cortland (7-3) Wednesday night at Higgins Stadium.
 
Trailing 7-6, Ithaca freshman John Januszkiewicz capitalized on a Pat Slawta feed with 14.1 seconds lingering in the game to knot action and force overtime with the Red Dragons for the second straight year. Cortland, who won just 4-of-19 faceoffs on the night, won the overtime-opening faceoff that proved to be the last of the game. The Red Dragons got off a shot 1:09 into the extra period that sophomore Scott Sidnam saved with his left arm. Cortland's Matt Rakoczy would net the game-winner 11 seconds later, his 12th score of the season.

The Bombers, who have lost five straight to the local rival, dropped a double-overtime loss to the then top-ranked Red Dragons a season ago, 9-8.

Ithaca held a solid 4-1 lead at the half. The Bombers took a 2-0 lead five minutes in en route to a 3-1 gap at the end of the first. They tallied the only goal of the second. Cortland rattled off four in the third, while shutting out Ithaca, to hold its first edge of the game, 5-4, entering the fourth.
 
The final quarter featured nine penalties. Junior Jimmy Ryan scored the first of the fourth at 12:40 on a man-up opportunity. Cortland regained the advantage at the nine-minute mark before senior Jake Long found junior James Manilla for another man-up score at 5:02 resulting in a 6-6 stalemate. The Red Dragons responded at 2:33 with a man-up goal of their own, but Januszkiewicz tallied to force the extra period.

Senior Brandon Henne won each of the Bombers' 15 faceoffs and added a game-best seven ground balls. He recorded the first goal of the game just 11 seconds in after winning the opening faceoff and storming downfield to shoot a dart into the back of the net.
 
Senior Casey Schattner, junior John Figarelli and sophomore Eli Gobrecht forced a pair of turnovers each, while Sidnam made seven stops in net for the Bombers.
 
Each of Ithaca's seven scores came from a different player. Manilla scored once and had a pair of assists, while Slawta and Long each had one and one. Ryan, Januszkiewicz, Henne and freshman Justin Bird accounted for the other four.
 
All three of Ithaca's 2014 losses have come against top-10 teams.
 
The Bombers return to the turf on Saturday, April 5 hosting Houghton at 3 p.m.