Sean Rice scored six goals and Andrew Tittman made 16 saves to lead Nassau Community College to a 17-9 victory Sunday over Howard Community College in the NJCAA men’s lacrosse championship game at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale, New York.
LIONS ROAR The Nassau Community College men's lacrosse team wins the @NJCAA national title for the second straight year and the 23rd time in team history. Story tonight on @news12li. @lionsncc @N12Sports pic.twitter.com/ZQj4boUgwV
— Kevin Maher (@KMaherNews12) May 15, 2022
The Lions won their second straight junior college national championship and 23rd overall despite entering the tournament as the No. 5 seed. They avenged a 21-9 loss to Howard earlier this season.
Nassau was just 4-4 during the regular season but got hot in the playoffs, defeating Delaware Tech to advance out of its region then knocking off the No. 4 and No. 1 seeds in Onondaga Community College and Harford Community College, respectively.
The Lions (9-4) trailed 1-0 early but scored six unanswered goals to take control of the game Sunday. Howard (11-4), the tournament’s No. 3 seed, never recovered and committed eight penalties. Nassau capitalized by going 4-for-8 on extra-man opportunities.
Jordan McCoy added three goals and two assists for the Lions. The teams combined for more than 100 shots in the game. Nassau shot 17-for-54 (31 percent) while the Dragons shot 9-for-49 (18 percent).
The Lions’ 23 NJCAA titles are by far the most in junior college lacrosse history, but they went 13 years between championships in 2008 and 2021. Onondaga ranks second with 12 titles, 10 of which occurred during Nassau’s drought.