Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--The Western New England University men's lacrosse team gave nationally No. 6-ranked SUNY Cortland all it could handle on Saturday, but Mike Cantelli scored his third goal of the game with 75 seconds left to seal an 11-9 non-conference victory for the Red Dragons (2-2)--who have captured four national titles in 30 NCAA Division III Championship appearances--at Golden Bear Stadium. The host Golden Bears fall to 2-3 on the season.

Western New England was led by sophomore Keegan Dudeck who scored four points on three goals and an assist, classmate Justin Bard had two goals and three points, and classmate Max Berteletti added a goal and two assists. Senior goalie Brandon Body kept WNE close all afternoon by making a game-high 13 saves, including several stops from point-blank range.

Cortland's Zach Hopps led all scorers with five points, including four assists. James Stavrakis and Matt Rakoczy chipped in two goals apiece.

Western New England proved its mettle by forging a 2-2 tie after 15 minutes of play. Rakoczy and Cantelli scored unassisted goals for a 2-0 Cortland lead at the 8:12 mark of the first quarter, but the Golden Bears answered quickly. Senior Dan McKenna scored a man-up goal on a feed from Dudeck 1 minute and 34 seconds after Cantelli, and Dudeck took a pass from Bard to tie it with 1:13 left.

Cortland, however, took control in the second quarter by scoring six of the eight goals in the frame. Matt Savlov and T.J. deLyra found the back of the net 36 seconds apart and Hopps made it 5-2 with 11:14 left.

Dudeck scored a man-up goal assisted by Berteletti at 6:49 and Mike Jednak followed with this third goal of the season from senior Jon Bota at 5:12.

Leading 5-4, the Red Dragons ended the first half with three goals in a 2:52 span to earn their biggest lead of the afternoon at 8-4 at the intermission. Stavrakis had two unassisted goals during the 6-2 run.

Western New England, however, outscored Cortland 3-0 in the third quarter to climb back to 8-7. Bard scored the first of his two goals at the 10:56 mark and Dudeck and Berteletti had back-to-back tallies 90 seconds apart beginning at 7:52 on the clock. With 26 seconds remaining, Body had one of his best saves of the day when he stymied Hopps from the top of the crease to keep it a one-goal game.

In the fourth quarter, the teams alternated goals beginning with Pat Baldwin--who led all players with 12 ground balls and 15-for-22 in the face-off "X"--winning the opening face-off and racing down the middle to beat Body high just 5 seconds in.

Berteletti fed Bard for his team-leading 12th goal of the season at the 7:53 mark to cut the deficit to 9-8 until Rakoczy and Hopps combined to make it 10-8 Cortland at 5:35. Junior Patrick Dillon ripped a shot through the legs of Cortland goalie Scott Tota (9 saves) at 2:37 to pull WNE within one again.

McKenna had a golden opportunity to knot the score at 9-all for WNE, but his shot hit the crossbar just moments before Rakoczy's seventh goal of the year.

Cortland held advantages in shots (36-29), shots on goal (24-18), turnovers (9-18), face-off wins (16-8) and clears (19-for-21, 11-for-14). Western New England won the ground ball battle, 32-27, led by junior defenseman David Novitzky with five.

After Cantelli got the insurance goal to close the scoring for both sides, junior David Cedrone (4 ground balls, 7-for-18 face-offs) won the ensuing draw to give WNE another possession. Dudeck was stopped by Tota and the Red Dragons--who never trailed--ran out the final 31 seconds to escape with the win.

Western New England will head for Florida for spring break to play St Lawrence University at the National Training Center in Clermont; face-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

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