Playing at home Wednesday, the Tompkins Cortland Community College lacrosse team showed the firepower needed to overcome a slow start and win going away. The Panthers spotted Hudson Valley Community College an early three-goal lead before roaring back to beat the Vikings 10-7. The Panthers are now 3-1 overall and in Region III while Hudson Valley drops to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in Region III.
Slow doesn't begin to describe the start for the Panthers. Coming in off a dominating performance against Jefferson Community College the last time out, the Panthers took a while to get going. Thankfully for the Panthers, goalie Bryan Iannello (Dryden/Dryden H.S.) came up big early, keeping the game close while the offense worked to get on track. Thanks largely to Iannello's work, which included five saves in the first quarter alone, the Panthers trailed just 1-0 at the end of the first. Hudson Valley beat Iannello twice in the first four minutes of the second quarter to push the lead to 3-0 before the Panthers finally got on the board with a Jack Collmer (Vernon/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) score with 11:19 left in the second. After the Vikings scored to make it 4-1, goals by Anthony Irizarry (Middletown/Middletown H.S.) and Derek Sammartino (Saddle Brook, N.J./Pascack Hills H.S.) made the score 4-3. A Hudson Valley goal late in the second made the score 5-3 in favor of the Vikings at the half.
The third quarter was all Tompkins Cortland, with the Panthers scoring three times, taking their first lead of the game on a goal by Irizarry with 47.9 seconds left in the quarter. The quarter ended with the home team ahead 6-5, but after a tense five minutes of play to open the fourth, Hudson Valley scored the equalizer to make it 6-6. Just over a minute later Irizarry took a pretty feed from Erik Dickerson (Pine Bush/John S. Burke Catholic H.S.) and found the net with what would prove to be the game winner. The score sparked a four-goal run with Dickerson picking up two goals and Matthew Bisono (Deer Park/Deer Park H.S.) scoring one goal and assisting on another. The 10-6 lead was trimmed to 10-7 with a Hudson Valley goal in the last minute, but the final horn sounded with the Panthers having outscored the Vikings 7-2 during the second half en route to the 10-7 win.
Dickerson led the Panthers with four points on three goals and an assist. Irizarry had three goals while Sammartino had two goals and an assist and Bisono had a goal and two helpers. Collmer's goal and an assists by Ian Kilts (Dryden/Dryden H.S.) rounded out the scoring for the Panthers.
Iannello finished his bog day with 15 saves to improve his record to 3-1 on the year.
The Panthers return to Mid-State Athletic Conference action Saturday with a trip to Syracuse to take on the top-ranked team in the country, Onondaga Community College.