The Cortland boys' lacrosse team warms up on their home turf at Cortland Junior Senior High Saturday afternoon (Cortland Voice)
CORTLAND, N.Y. — After a five game losing streak, the Tigers were able to come out on top, 19-3, over the Chittenango Bears in a one-sided victory.
The Tigers didn't waste any time at the start of the game and immediately took an aggressive approach on offense Senior attacker Brandon Ludwig scored the first goal for the Tigers one minute into the first quarter.
Junior midfielder Nickolas Litzenberger scored the second goal for the Tigers with 8:31 left in the first quarter. Only two minutes later, senior attacker Dylan Luther scored the third goal for the Tigers on an assist from fellow senior Rory Hines, giving them an early 3-0 lead.
By the end of the first half, the Tigers were leading 12-2.
“The last thing we wanted to do coming into the second half was relax,” said Cortland head coach Sean Mack. “We wanted to perfect the little things. Making sure that we get quality possessions, and if we were gonna get a goal, that we get it the right way by moving around and staying active with high energy.”
Cortland continued dominating through the second half, with Ludwig leading the Tigers with seven total goals and one assist.
Following Ludwig, both Litzenberger and Luther finished the game with a hat-trick. Litzenberger also had two assists, while Luther had one.
The Tigers finished the game with a total of 40 ground balls and 40 shots, with 26 of them coming in the first half and 14 in the second.
The Chittenango Bears finished with 17 ground balls and 16 shots, only nine of them on target. Cortland senior Ethan Myers saved three shots in the first half and senior Kirkland Case saved three shots in the second half.
Chittenango’s three goals came from a hat-trick from sophomore midfielder Caleb Barnard.
“We needed this win,” said Coach Mack. “We have not been playing our best lately and we have a lot of games coming up in the next few days. So we knew that we had to come out fired up and have a good day to give us some fuel for the near future.”
The Tigers have now improved to a 3-6 overall record.
