D-III Men's Rewind: Salisbury, Tufts Emerge After Wild Weekend

If you’re a fan of Division III men’s lacrosse, you’re probably thinking two things right now:

1. That was a wild weekend

2. They have to stop playing these games on back-to-back days

There will be more people thinking the latter, especially fans of the teams that didn’t make it through to the title game. For everyone else that looks at glasses half full, two of the best teams all season will clash in Philadelphia to see who is the best superior team in Division III. Will it be the jaw-dropping Jumbos, or the stalwart Sea Gulls? 

BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

Cross Ferrara played like a man possessed in the semifinals against Christopher Newport. With seven points on four goals and three assists, he led all scorers. After the Gulls went down 3-2 early, Ferrara either scored or assisted each of the next three Salisbury goals. He had a hand in more than half of Salisbury’s goals on the day. 

Tommy Swank led his team to the title game with five goals, all coming in the first three quarters against RIT. Yes, he took 16 shots, so the ratio is skewed, but like Twitter, it’s the end result that matters. You can’t get ratioed in a lacrosse game, though many have tried.

BEST TEAM PERFORMANCE

It has to be Tufts. Everyone was scoring goals for the Jumbos, Long poles got involved early, as Kyle Adelmann got his first goal of the season and Ben Frisoli followed suit shortly thereafter during Tuft’s dominant first-quarter performance against Lynchburg. 

There’s no other way to describe this scoring breakdown. Twelve different Tufts players scored a goal, and 15 players had at least one point. 

And in the second game, eight players found the back of the net. It was Swank playing the main fiddle, as he plopped in five of his own. Teams have been keying on Jack Boyden all year, and that has usually led to players like Charlie Tagliaferri or Kurt Bruun padding their goal totals, but this time, it was Swank’s turn. 

But if we’re talking about team contributions, it’s impossible to ignore the faceoff duo of Victor Salcedo and Mason Kohn. In the second quarter, they combined to win three straight draws in less than two minutes, and all three of those resulted in goals that put the Jumbos up 8-4 before halftime. The offense, led by Swank, handled the rest and shoved the Jumbos into the national championship game. 

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Is it Lynchburg being worked by the Tufts defense in the first half? No. It’s Dickinson shooting out to a 5-1 lead and putting the clamps on a normally exciting Christopher Newport offense. The Red Devils led 8-4 at the half and started the third quarter off with a silly behind the back shorthanded tally from Owen Porter. 

But the Captains battled back in the third to make it a two-goal game within five minutes of play. 

Andrew Cook scored his first goal late in the fourth quarter to set the stage for his second goal that made it a one-goal game (11-10) with 4:29 left.

He scored the next three goals, including the game tying and game winning goal in overtime. It was as if he saw our All-American ballots and played with the fire of a thousand suns to recognize his greatness.

BIGGEST UPSET AND TOUGHEST LOSS

Dickinson conceded three straight goals (really four, but you can’t call the canceled-out timeout goal) to drop its semifinal against Christopher Newport. CNU’s win wasn’t an upset, but the win was indeed upsetting to the Red Devils. Dickinson has to be kicking itself for not getting to the cage in their final possession in regulation. 

FILTHIEST GOAL

Isaac Thrasher’s first goal against Washington and Lee, a swim into a backhand on the crease. Tied it at 1. Ludicrous. Not just to try, but to actually soak a body check whilst backhanding. It’s one of the more impressive goals of the weekend. 

But in terms of sheer trigonometry, this tally from Cross Ferrara doesn’t even make sense. Casual drive down the wing, quick hand switch, half a second to measure distance like a woodshop teacher and then bam … far pipe finish. 

MLAX: Cross Ferrara scores back-to-back goals to put @SalisburyMLAX ahead 5-2 midway through the second quarter.#d3lax pic.twitter.com/vfh8hNiKaK

— Salisbury Athletics (@SUSeaGulls) May 20, 2023