By John Boccacino/Sports Information Director
The Keuka College men's lacrosse team will make history when the Storm take on nationally-ranked SUNY Cortland at 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in a first-round NCAA contest at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
Keuka (14-0) is one of three undefeated teams in the country along with No. 1 RIT (18-0) and No. 4 Denison (Ohio) University (17-0). The Storm claimed their fourth-straight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) postseason championship with a 13-5 win over Morrisville State Saturday to earn the program's first trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Green and Gold have won 26 straight since a season-opening loss to RIT (March 9, 2013) and are among school's receiving votes in the USILA's Weekly Top 20 poll. Cortland (15-3) is ranked No. 8 in the country in the USILA poll.
"We're all excited for the challenge of representing not only Keuka College, but the NEAC at the NCAA tournament," said junior Eric Saltrelli (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder), who earned NEAC Tournament MVP honors after making 24 saves in two postseason wins.
"This game will be a big test for us. We just have to go through in practice and work on the things we need to improve on. We need to put up a good fight in the NCAA tournament because we're playing a great team. It feels great to make the NCAA's. This will definitely help with recruitment for years to come. All of us on the team have worked so hard for this moment."
Live stats can be viewed at http://colfax.cortland.edu/athletics/mlacrosse/live/xlive.htm.
Keuka College (17 goals per game) is the third-highest scoring offense in the nation. Only one opponent, Morrisville State, held the Storm under 10 goals (a 9-5 win April 5). The Storm rank fourth nationally in scoring margin (+9.93), points per game (27.43) and assists per game (10.43).
Senior Connor Latimer (Whitby, Ont./Father Leo J. Austin) leads the Storm in goals (41), is tied for the team lead in points (69) and is second in assists (28). He ranks 35th nationally in goals per game (2.93), while sophomore Matt Beebe (Syracuse, NY/LaFayette) leads the Storm in assists (31), is tied for the team lead in points (69) and is third in goals (38).
Beebe ranks 26th nationally in assists per game (2.21), while both Beebe and Latimer are tied for 13th in points per game (4.93).
Junior James Voigt (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) was third on the team in goals (31), assists (22) and points (53), while classmate Cory Gray (Seneca Castle, NY/Midlakes) was third in goals (34) and fourth in points (44) and assists (10).
Seven different student-athletes scored 10 or more goals this year, while 10 student-athletes recorded 10 or more points in leading the Storm to an unblemished regular season.
"Making the NCAA tournament feels great, we've all been working very hard for this moment and while we know we're going to play a really solid team, hopefully we can outwork and out-hustle them and see how we do," said Latimer, who earned his second straight first-team All-NEAC honors and has scored 152 points (85 goals, 67 assists) in two years on campus.
"Playing for this team has been an awesome experience. It's such a great feeling, coming here and knowing that you're part of something special. Now we get to go to the NCAA tournament, and I know coach (Jason) Paige has been wanting to go to NCAA's for some time. So it's nice we could go out, win NEAC's and get a chance to compete in the tournament."
Defensively, the Green and Gold allowed 99 goals in 14 games (7.01 goals per game) and ranked 29th in the country in scoring defense. The Storm caused 13.86 turnovers per game (fifth in the country) and collected 43.50 groundballs per game (sixth nationally).
Senior Scott Miller (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) was named the NEAC's Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season after leading the Storm in caused turnovers (27) with 24 groundballs.
Saltrelli has a 9-0 record with a 7.32 GAA (66 goals allowed) and 128 saves in 542 minutes in goal. He ranks second in the country in saves percentage (66 percent) and is 29th in goals-against average.
Junior Marc Sacco (East Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) was second in caused turnovers (25) and was third in groundballs (50), while senior Kenny Cannon (East Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) led the team in groundballs (59).
Freshmen Dustin Springer (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and Trevor Jones (Jamesville, NY/LaFayette) are also key contributors on defense, combining to cause 34 turnovers while collecting 54 groundballs.
"I'm stoked for an NCAA appearance," Sacco said. "This was a great team that I joined, but now, we're not even a team anymore; we're a family. We've got each other's backs out there and everyone has my back. We're all so excited for this great chance to play in the NCAA tournament."
Head coach Jason Paige is in his 16th season leading the Storm. He is the program's winningest coach, having compiled a 123-75 record (.621 winning percentage). A graduate of Washington College (1995), he was inducted into Washington College's Athletics Hall of Fame after earning three All-America honors.
Cortland advanced to the national semifinals in 2013 before falling to RIT, the eventual national champions, 10-9 in overtime. Cortland has played in the national championship game five times since 2006 (four straight years from 2006 to 2009) and won the national title in both 2006 and 2009.
NCAA Interactive Bracket
NCAA Printable Bracket (PDF)
