FOXBOROUGH, MASS. – Junior Kylor Berkman (Salisbury, MD/Parkside) scored a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists to earn Most Outstanding Player honors as Salisbury (22-0) defeated Cortland, 19-13, to win its second straight NCAA Division III title in front of a record crowd of 24,317. The Red Dragons, who tied the school record for wins in a season, finished the year at 18-2 and had their 14-game winning streak snapped.

Cortland senior Ryan Heath (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) reached two milestones in the setback. Heath had two goals and two assists and pushed his school-record single-season point total to 101 (53 goals, 48 assists), becoming the first player in Cortland history to surpass 100 points in a campaign. With the two assists, Heath also became the fourth player in school history to record 100 career goals and career assists (132 goals, 100 assists) and the first to accomplish the feat in three season. Senior Chris Hannon (Baldwin) scored a career-best four goals and added an assist, while junior Joey Morgan (Putnam Valley) matched his career high with four goals and also chipped in with an assist. Seniors Adam Hyde (West Seneca/West Seneca East) and Josh Cittadino (Baldwin) each registered a goal and an assist with Cittadino winning 13-of-19 faceoffs. Sophomore Brandon Misiszek (New Hartford) scored a goal and senior Billy Fuchs (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) added two assists. Junior Mike Robinson (Alexandria, VA/Thomas Edison) started in the cage and made six saves in 51 minutes, 21 seconds. Junior Matt Hipenbecker (Mountain Lakes, NJ) played the final 8:39 of the third quarter and allowed two goals with no saves.

Senior Bruce Richardson (Kirkwood, MO) also tallied five goals for the Sea Gulls. Sophomore Mike Von Kamecke (Winter Park, FL/Bishop Moore) had three goals and an assist, and senior Greg Titus (Setauket/Stony Brook) recorded two goals and three assists. Senior goalie Nick Fiorentino (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) stopped 14 shots in just his third start of the season.

Morgan gave the Red Dragons their only lead of the game 59 seconds into the contest off an assist from Hyde. The Gulls scored the next four goals, two from Titus, for a 4-1 lead. Morgan and Hannon sandwiched goals around a Berkman score to make it a 5-3 game, but Salisbury scored twice in the last minute of the quarter for a 7-3 lead.

Hannon and Morgan pulled Cortland to within 7-5 early in the second, netting unassisted goals at 14:28 and 14:07. Berkman scored his second of the game at 13:04 and Hannon and Richardson traded goals to make it a 9-6 lead with 11:09 remaining before the half. Neither team scored the rest of the quarter and the Gulls held the three-goal advantage at intermission.

Salisbury opened up the third quarter by scoring five of the first six goals and held what seemed like a commanding 14-7 lead with 8:14 on the clock. After a Cortland timeout, the Red Dragons strung together four straight goals with Heath picking up two and assisting on another to make the score 14-11 with 3:46 left in the quarter. Richardson stopped the run with his third of the game at the 2:05 mark and the Gulls led 15-11 after three.

The Red Dragons never got closer than four goals the remainder of the game, 16-12 and 17-13, before Salisbury tacked on two late goals for the final of 19-13.

Cortland outshot Salisbury, 42-33, and held a 48-44 advantage in ground balls. The Red Dragons went 1-for-2 on man-up situations, while the Gulls were 3-for-5.

(Courtesy: SUNY Cortland Athletics)

To watch Kevin Maher's report on the game from Massachusettes, click "watch the story".