CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Decorated senior forward
Gilbert Waso scored his 44th career goal, while talented freshman defender
Edward Rainey netted his first as Elizabethtown's season came to a close with a 5-2 loss at No. 6 Cortland in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Championship Sunday evening.
Cortland's explosive offense attacked immediately and backed the Landmark Conference champion Blue Jays into a corner.
Jake Keller scored just 5:06 in and the Red Dragons (17-2-3) tallied four goals in the first 36 minutes to seize control of the game.
Migell Ormsby doubled Cortland's lead in the 18th minute. Back-to-back goals from Nick Pfeiffer exactly three minutes apart in the 33rd and 36th minutes made it 4-0.
After being outshot 11-1 in the first half, the Blue Jays (11-5-4) tried to get something going early in the second.
Danny Sullivan's free kick into the 18-yard box skipped off the head of
Mitchell Gochnauer right to Rainey who beat his mark and drilled a right-footed one-timer past Red Dragons' keeper Sean Kelly for his first career goal.
Cortland would not allow the Blue Jays to savor their goal for long. Following a takeaway at the center line, Miguel Tunas dribbled to the left end line, sent a pass into the middle and Keller popped it in for his second of the game and a 5-1 Red Dragon advantage.
A Cortland hand ball in the box set up Waso with a penalty kick in the 79th minute and he converted to move into a four-way tie for sixth-place on Elizabethtown's all-time goal scoring list.
The Blue Jays tipped the scales in the second half with a 9-3 shot advantage.
Brian Gately, one of eight seniors playing in their final collegiate games, made three saves in goal.
Waso, the three-time Landmark Player of the Year and two-time All-American, finished his career ninth all-time in scoring after recording 115 points (44 goals, 27 assists) in 78 games.
Seniors joining Gately and Waso in
Skip Roderick's starting lineup on Sunday were defenders Gochnauer and Sullivan, and midfielder
Tyler Colasanto. The team's remaining seniors:
Cameron Dorr,
Alex Musgnug and
Andrew McGowan all came on as reserves.
Keller and Pfeiffer each had two goals for Cortland, which will face top-ranked Messiah in the Third Round (Sweet 16) next weekend. Tunas added a pair of helpers and Kelly made four saves for the hosts.
Elizabethtown, which won its first Landmark title and reached the Second Round of the national tournament for the second time in the last three years, also saw its 14-game unbeaten streak snapped. The Blue Jays had gone 11-0-3 since Sept. 15, their longest such streak since a 14-game stretch in 2003 (13-0-1).
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