LE MOYNE ADVANCES TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
GAME WITH 8-5 WIN OVER LIMESTONE
Le Moyne College Sports Information
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Senior Matt Cassalia (Camillus, N.Y./West
Genesee) and junior Mike McDonald (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) scored
three goals each to lead the Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team
to an 8-5 victory over Limestone College in the NCAA Division II
national semifinals at the Thomas J. Niland Athletic Complex.
The Dolphins (14-2) will be making their second consecutive trip
and third in four years to the National Championship game. Le
Moyne, winners of the national championship in the two previous
trips, will play Mercyhurst College on Sunday May 27 at 4:30 p.m.
at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Limestone ends
their season at 14-2.
The Saints jumped on the board first with a goal by senior
attackman Ryan Collins at the 12:08 mark of the first quarter. Le
Moyne responded with the first of four straight goals 33 seconds
later on Cassalia's first of the game. Le Moyne went up 2-1 on
Cassalia's second goal of the game at the 9:19 mark of the first
quarter. McDonald closed out the scoring in the opening quarter by
putting in his first of the game with 5:58 remaining in the quarter
to give the Dolphins a 3-1 edge. Junior attackman Nick Gatto
(Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) scored the only goal of the second
quarter with 8:51 remaining to put Le Moyne up 4-1.
Limestone jumped out of the intermission with three goals in the
opening four minutes of the third quarter to knot the score at
four. Junior midfielder Justin Haworth scored his first of three
goals on the afternoon 35 seconds into the quarter. Junior
defenseman Matt Pindar scored less than a minute later to cut the
Le Moyne lead to 4-3. Haworth scored his second goal of the game at
the 11:00 mark to tie the score. McDonald scored Le Moyne's only
third quarter goal with 7:22 remaining to give them a 5-4
advantage.
After a scoreless drought in the game of over 13 minutes, Cassalia
scored his third goal of the game to put Le Moyne up 6-4. McDonald
scored his third goal just over a minute later to give the Dolphins
a 7-4 lead. Haworth cut the lead back to two with his third goal of
the game with 2:45 remaining. Cassalia won the ensuing face-off and
found a cutting Brian Cost (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) in front
of the goal for his first goal of the game.
Senior goalkeeper Jared Corcoran (Concord, N.H./Concord) made
seven saves in goal to improve his career record to 60-2 at Le
Moyne. Limestone's Marty Ward registered 11 saves in the
set-back.
Le Moyne and Mercyhurst, 13-10 winners over New York Institute of
Technology in the other semifinal match-up, will face-off for the
second time this season. Le Moyne topped the Lakers 8-7 in overtime
on March 10th in Erie, Pennsylvania.



























