May 28, 2007

Box Score

Baltimore, Mary. - With one second remaining in regulation, Mike McDonald's tipped pass found the back of the net and gave Le Moyne a 6-5 victory over Mercyhurst in the NCAA Division II National Championship game in front of 22,778 people Sunday. The win gave Le Moyne its third national title in four years and sent the Lakers to a loss in their first trip to the title game.

Le Moyne and Mercyhurst were the top two defensive teams in the country during the regular season and the championship game gave the country a chance to see just how stout the two teams were. Mercyhurst generated only 13 shots on goal while Le Moyne had just 11 as scoring opportunities were difficult to come by. Laker Scott Janssen scored two goals, while Mike Thon, Bryon Lindner and David Osier had one each. Thon added an assist as well despite sitting out of practices Friday with flu-like symptoms and taking an IV early in the day to help him get on the field.

Mercyhurst looked like the team playing in its first national championship game early on as Alex Bily scored 36 seconds into play and McDonald tallied his first goal of the game less than six minutes into play to put the Dolphins on top 2-0.

However, Mercyhurst settled down and battled back with three consecutive goals to take its first lead of the game. Seniors Lindner and Janssen scored before the end of the opening period to tie the game at 2-2. Thon's goal with 12:21 to play in the second period put the Lakers ahead and gave Mike Bartlett his second assist of the contest, but Le Moyne's Blake Gale scored with 5:22 remaining to tie the score at 3-3 at the break.

When Janssen scored his second goal 1:20 into the third it appeared that Mercyhurst had the game in hand. But Le Moyne tied the game again on a Matt Cassalia goal with 9:54 to play in the third. Osier then went to work and got an assist from Thon with 6:28 left to give the Lakers a 5-4 lead heading into the fourth.

Le Moyne's Brian Cost scored with 13:17 left in the game to tie the game and signal a change of momentum. The Dolphins outshot Mercyhurst 12-1 in the fourth period and controlled possession, making the Laker defense work hard to contain Le Moyne's attack.

As time ran down, the two defenses smothered scoring attempts. Le Moyne regained possession with seven seconds remaining after a misfired shot and Mercyhurst coach Chris Ryan called timeout to set up his defense for the final attempt.

Joe Thon, who was named the Division II Defensive Player of the Year earlier in the day, defended McDonald and forced him to make a last-ditch pass towards the goal mouth. With a lot of traffic in front of Mercyhurst goalie Jason Lashomb, the pass hit a stick, redirecting the ball past the Laker netminder and into the net with just one second remaining.

With the loss, Mercyhurst ends the season with a record of 13-2. Le Moyne was the only team to beat the Lakers this year, handing Mercyhurst its only other loss in an 8-7 overtime defeat early in the regular season. The Lakers went 6-0 to win the East Coast Conference, the best league in Division II. As well, Mercyhurst reached No. 1 in the country for the first time in program history, holding that spot for the final five weeks of the season. The Lakers will have some work to do to return to the title game in 2008 as the team loses 10 seniors from this year's team.