May 19, 2003 Larger Game Photos by Bob Ogrudek  |
May 19, 2003 Larger Game Photos by Bob Ogrudek |
By Nelson Coffin
Photos by Bob Ogrudek
"Cardinal" was the call , sending butterflies immediately into the stomach of Salisbury University's Chris Lauer and Chris Phillips. It was between regulation and overtime of a 13-13 deadlock with Middlebury College in the Men's Division III title game that Salisbury Coach Jim Berkman decided on the play that, of course, would only work if Sea Gull faceoff specialist Andy Murray could win the opening draw of overtime against the three-time defending champs from Vermont.
When Murray succeeded for the 19th time in 29 attempts in the contest, it was all up to Lauer and Phillips, as 15,417 (33,023 paid) at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium braced to witness the most entertaining chapter of the Memorial Day weekend lax extravaganza unfold in sudden-death drama. "I was nervous," admitted Lauer, a middie who inverted on the play and took a Panther shortstick behind the goal. "But when the whistle blew I had to concentrate on catching the ball and making the right pass."
The junior from Parkton, Md. did exactly what he was supposed to do on the sloppy turf after a couple of Middlebury defenders were rubbed off on a picks and Phillips broke free to gather in Lauer's feed. Phillips' shot whistled into the off-side corner of the net 29 seconds into overtime to give Salisbury its first D-III banner since 1999 and fourth overall, all under master strategist Berkman. "It was kind of funny because, in the beginning of overtime I was kind of running through my whole lacrosse career and I was like, I've never scored an overtime goal," said Phillips to an amused press corps following the battle. "And I was thinking it would be kind of nice to get one now. I knew it was coming to me and I just had to do my job."
Phillips third goal of the game and 47th of the 2003 campaign capped a wild finish to what started off as a rout. The Panthers (17-2) began in fine fashion, forging a 3-2 advantage with 5:32 left in the first period. That is until Salisbury, as it has done in winning 19 of 20 games this spring, cranked up its hefty offense and reeled off nine of the game's next 10 goals to cruise into halftime with a generous 10-4 cushion.
The comfort zone crumbled quickly, however, when Middlebury decided to make, at the very least, a second-half statement. "We had nothing to lose in the second half," said Middlebury middie Greg Bastis, who scored the first goal of the rally just 13 seconds into the third quarter. "Our character helped us to relax. We believed in each other and we believed in our coaches."
The Panthers also believed better moments were ahead for them. "There wasn't much strategy at halftime," said Middlebury Coach Erin Quinn. "We just needed to calm our sticks down and play." The goals kept pouring in for the Panthers, who stung the net three more times in the next 10 minutes. Suddenly, that 10-4 bulge slimmed to 10-8. From that point forward, just about everybody in the home of the NFL Ravens realized that the outcome probably would not be decided until crunch time.
Middie Kevin Gemmell stopped the bleeding for Salisbury, giving the Gulls an 11-8 margin to work with heading into the final period. And goals were hard to come by, considering the acrobat between the pipes for the Panthers, Eric Krieger, who was stopping everything in sight. "A lot of the goals they scored in the first half were bang-bang-bang goals," said Krieger, credited with 19 saves. "And before we knew it, they had three goals on the board. In the second half we were able to regroup and do what we were capable of."
Ben Tobey, Jonathan Sisto and Andrew Giordano scored in rapid-fire order to tie the score for the Panthers with 11:54 to go. Senior Josh Bergey, the game's Most Outstanding Player with a game-high eight points (4 and 4) whose body-banging encounters with Middlebury's Ed Brown were a treat to behold, put Salisbury ahead only 13 seconds after the Panthers tied it. Bastis then tied it, setting up classic confrontations down the stretch.
It started when Krieger stuffed Phillips at one end and Charlie Howe converted on the ensuing fastbreak with only 6:19 left. In an unsettled situation a couple of minutes later, Bergey drew the slide and wisely deferred to Andy Arnold all alone for the equalizer with 4:35 to go. Not to be outdone by his counterpart, Salisbury netminder Dan Korpon snared a shot by Panther attackman Mike Saracini that seemed destined for the net in the waning seconds.
All of the breathtaking action led to the "cardinal," which had been run earlier for Bergey from the other side and resulted in a pipe. "I can't say this is the best I've ever felt after a championship game in the last five years, but in some ways it is," said Quinn. "This was one of the best games we've ever had, the most exciting, anyway."
Berkman was the most relieved man in the building. "We were fortunate enough to weather the storm in the second half," he said, "And they [Middlebury] came out and proved what true competitors they are. Their goalie gave them an opportunity to win the game." And the opportunity to showcase D-III charisma in the best venue ever for an NCAA championship weekend was not lost on Berkman's band. "I was telling the kids how great it would be to play in the mecca of lacrosse," said Berkman, who arrived in Charm City ahead of the team to check out the field and facility. "So I called them (from a cell phone) while they were on the bus on the way here and told them, 'You know what? It's even better than I told you it was going to be.'"
Video ActionSalisbury's Josh Bergey to Andy Arnold High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Andy Murray to Cory O'Neil to Chris Phillips High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Greg Bastis High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Chris Phillips to Josh Bergey High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Dan Korpon High Bandwidth Only
Salisbury's Dan Korpon High Bandwidth Only
Salisbury's Cory O'Neil to Josh Bergey High Bandwidth Only
Salisbury's Shris Phillips to Joe Tamberrino High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Mike Frissora High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Joe Tamberrino to Chris Phillips to Josh Bergey High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Joe Tamberrino to Scott Simmons High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Dan Korpon again! High Bandwidth Only
Middlebury's Greg Bastis High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Ben Tobey to Mike Saraceni High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Andrew Giordano High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Jonathan Sisto High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Kevin Gemmell High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Andrew Giordano again! High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Josh Bergey High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Greg Bastis again! High Bandwidth
Salisbury's Dan Korpon High Bandwidth Only
Middlebury's Charley Howe High Bandwidth
Middlebury's Eric Kreiger again! High Bandwidth Only
Salisbury's Chris Phillips to Josh Bergey to Andy Arnold High Bandwidth Only
Chris Lauer to Chris Phillips with the Winner, 29 seconds into OT! High Bandwidth
Big Celebration Video! High Bandwidth Only
TOYOTA Video Clip of the Week!
Game Photographs
Larger Game Photos by Bob Ogrudek!
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