CORTLAND, N.Y. – The College at Brockport men's lacrosse team faced off in a heated battle with SUNY Cortland in the State University of New York Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday, getting upended by a last second goal and falling, 7-6.
 
The Golden Eagles fall to 12-4 on the season while the red Dragons improve to 13-5 in 2016.
 
Brockport saw Cortland get off to a hot start with the lone goals of the first period, three straight scores, to take a 3-0 lead into the second period.
 
The Green and Gold didn't let the Red Dragons strong first period deter them, as they fired in two straight to open the second period. Colton Oliver found the back of the cage to break the scoring silence at the 9:39 mark. John Countryman put away a Michael Gallagher pass to pull within one at 3-2.
 
Brockport saw the Red Dragons net one more goal in the second period, but Jake Giudice matched it with 2:40 to play when he sent in a Brendan Fitzgerald pass to post a score of 4-3 heading into the break.
 
The Golden Eagles came out of the half fired up, and pieced together a strong third quarter. Marcus Palvino got the scoring started to knot the contest at 4-4, followed by a Giudice goal to give the Green and Gold their first lead of the contest. With 46 second left in the period, another Palvino goal gave the Golden Eagles a two-goal edge and the Brockport defense held the Red Dragons scoreless.
 
The Golden Eagles couldn't hold off Cortland in the final period, as the Red Dragons evened the count at 6-6 with a pair of goals by the 12:52 mark. The Golden Eagles fought to hold the Red Dragons, and were successful but struggled to find the back of the cage. Cortland broke the stalemate with a last second goal, proving too little too late for the Green and Gold as they fell, 7-6.
 
Brockport stuck with their competition despite being outmatched in shots, 43-22, ground balls 31-20 and faceoff's. The Green and Gold went 17-for-20 in clears on the day.
 
Defensively, Colin Blind led the way with three caused turnovers and five ground balls. Nick Smith, Michael Smith, Gabriel Coppola and Steven Gurin each adding a caused turnover. Smith and Casey Cleary each added three GBs on the day.
 
Blind, Giudice and Palvino were all named to the 2016 All-Tournament team following the two games in the SUNYAC Championship.
 
The Golden Eagles will await their fate to learn if they earned a bid to the NCAA Championship tournament. The 2016 bracket will be released by the NCAA on Sunday, April 8 at 9 p.m. To watch the release, click here.
 
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