Division III Men's Recap: Andrew Cook Seals CNU's Semifinal Berth in OT

And then there were four.

A riveting Division III men’s season is nearing its conclusion, though the four teams left standing for the NCAA semifinals are hardly a surprise — they’ve been at or near the top of the D-III hierarchy since the beginning of the season.

Continue below to see which teams are advancing to Sunday’s national semis.

SALISBURY 12, WASHINGTON AND LEE 9

Folks who checked out a third of the way through the third quarter might have thought Salisbury was going to run away with this one, but Washington and Lee put up a staunch fight late. Still, the Generals didn’t have enough to overcome the deficit.

Cross Ferrara scored four times, Jack Dowd scored three times and Jude Brown led all scorers with five points (one goal, four assists), as the Gulls topped W&L 12-9. Nicholas Ransom made 11 saves.

Alex Brown had a hat trick for the Generals, who also got 14 saves from Warren Seeds.

Salisbury led 9-3 after a four-goal run spanning the final 24 seconds of the first half and the first 5:23 of the third quarter. Washington and Lee had struggled offensively to that point, but it picked up the page facing the six-goal deficit.

The Generals buried five of the game’s next six goals to cut it to 10-8, but goals from Luke Nestor and Ferrara were enough to squash the comeback attempt with five minutes left.

RIT 16, MIDDLEBURY 6

This one was all RIT essentially from the start. Middlebury struggled offensively, failing to score consecutive goals until the final goal of the third period and the first goal of the fourth. That gave RIT the opportunity to bury the Panthers early.

Luke Pilcher had five goals and one assist, Seth Grottenthaler had one goal and four assists and Spencer Bell had a hat trick in the Tigers’ 16-6 win.

The Panthers’ inability to generate consistent offense was in large part due to the efforts of the RIT defense. Will Sterrett made 12 saves in 57:03, then Kyle Gaffey made another two saves in the 2:57 of relief work.

Middlebury actually held a 41-34 shot advantage.

TUFTS 17, LYNCHBURG 9

Lynchburg’s Chris Darminio scored the first goal of the game, but that was not a sign of bad fortune for Tufts. The Jumbos responded in the exact why you’d expect a high-octane offense to respond — by going on a prolonged run to completely deflate the opponent.

Tufts scored nine straight following that opening goal in an eventual 17-9 win. The scoring was spread around, too. Charlie Tagliaferri was the only Jumbos player with a hat trick, and Tommy Swank, Sam Frisoli and Kevin Christmas posted two-goal efforts. But overall, 11 Tufts players found the back of the net.

It was your prototypical Tufts offensive onslaught, with the Jumbos holding a 75-37 shot advantage. But Tufts didn’t just pepper the Lynchburg defense en route to a semifinal berth. The Jumbos were 100 percent (25-for-25) clearing the ball, held a 41-30 advantage on ground balls and held a 16-13 faceoff edge.

CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT 12, DICKINSON 11 (OT)

Dickinson had Christopher Newport on the ropes, leading by three after Matt Thurston’s goal with 7:43 remaining in regulation. But Christopher Newport chipped away with two goals from Andrew Cook and the equalizer with 22 seconds left out of the stick of Drew Miller.

That sent it to overtime, where Cook completed the epic comeback with 46 seconds left, sending CNU to the semifinals after a 12-11 win.

The entire game was about Christopher Newport making comebacks but falling just short — until the fourth quarter, that is. Dickinson led 5-1 early when Mac Childs punctuated an early four-goal run. Then, after Christopher Newport cut it to 6-4, Dickinson scored three in a row — one each from Skyler Schluter, Will Farrell and Owen Porter.

The Captains’ comeback began in earnest after Porter made it 9-4. They’d go on to score eight of the game’s final 10 goals, including Cook’s winner. Cook had just one assist until he netted his two fourth-quarter goals.

NCAA SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE
SUNDAY — ALL TIMES EASTERN

3 p.m. — Salisbury vs. Christopher Newport
5 p.m. — Tufts vs. RIT