SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Can lightning strike twice for the Western New England College men's lacrosse team?
The ninth-ranked Golden Bears (17-2) hope so in their rematch against fourth-ranked Cortland (16-2) beginning at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday (May 13) in a quarterfinal game of the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship.
The two lacrosse powers met in the season opener with the Red Dragons taking a 15-7 victory in Cross River (Westchester County), New York.
Since then both squads have been nearly unbeatable.
Western New England College ran its winning streak to 11 games after defeating No. 12 Tufts (12-9) last Saturday in Medford, Massachusetts. That win avenged a lopsided 15-4 loss to the Jumbos in their regular season meeting.
Western New England College would like nothing better than to have the same result against its New York State rivals.
"This is going to be an exciting game," said Golden Bears' coach John Klepacki. "Both of us are very similar on offense and we are both play physical defense."
WNEC once again will count on the leadership of senior co-captains Jared Pabis (Wilbraham, MA) and Brody Savoie (Wilbraham, MA).
Pabis anchors the defense, which remains third nationally in goals allowed (6.26 avg.) and seventh in man-down situations (.841).
Savoie, who had three goals against Tufts last Saturday, leads the Golden Bears with 56 points (42 goals, 14 assists) from his attack position.
Junior attacker Tim Santye (Skillman, NJ) is second with 54 points (42-12); he had three goals and an assist in the win over the Jumbos.
Freshman goalie Brewster Knowlton (Somers, CT) has been the biggest surprise after taking over as the starting goalie in the second game of the season. He is first nationally in goals-against-average (6.04) and fourth in save percentage (.649).
Knowlton compiled a season high 18 saves in the win over Tufts.
Cortland, playing in the national tournament for the 18th time, has a nine-game win streak after posting a 15-12 victory over Springfield last Saturday.
The Red Dragons won the NCAA title in 2006, and finished second in both 2007 and 2008.
Seven players have 30 or more goals led by freshman attacker Mike Tota (Webster, NY) with 59 points (44 goals, 15 assists). He netted four goals with two assists against WNEC in his college debut back in February.
Senior goalie Matt Hipenbecker (Mountain Lakes, NJ) has a 7.19 goals-against-average and 49.3 save percentage.
The Golden Bears have reached the national quarterfinals the two previous seasons with Ithaca prevailing 12-11 in overtime last season and Cortland holding on for a 12-10 victory (after a nearly five-hour weather delay) in Springfield in 2007.
The WNEC-Cortland winner meets either Middlebury or Wesleyan in a semifinal round contest on Sunday (May 17).