Cinderella vs. the Defending NCAA Champion in Division III Men's Title Game

It was a bit of chalky run through the NCAA Division III men’s quarterfinals, with one notable exception: the glass slipper still fit for Dickinson. Fresh off their overtime upset of Salisbury, the Red Devils knocked off another heavyweight contender in RPI, 11-9.

RIT handled Cortland in the quarterfinals, comfortably in control from wire to wire. A 10-3 halftime lead allowed the Tigers to hit cruise control. Nick Farrell went 16-for-19 facing off, dominating the stripe and severely hindering any efforts at a Cortland comeback. When Cortland could get possession, Alex Zborowski saw everything. He made 16 stops, going 76 percent in goal.

Tufts waltzed to a comfortable 17-8 win over Gettysburg in the quarterfinals. The Jumbos used a seven-goal first quarter to build a comfortable lead and then held serve the rest of the afternoon. A third-quarter shutout from the Jumbos put the game firmly in hand, as they entered the final quarter with a 14-5 lead.

The last quarterfinal had a surprise result, but maybe not in terms of the winner or loser. Bowdoin defeated Christopher Newport — but in dominant fashion. The final score was 19-11, but this one didn’t even feel that close. Bowdoin hung up a seven-spot in the first quarter. Jed Hoggard drilled a pole goal 26 seconds into the game to set the tone, and it was all Polar Bears from there.

They got out to a 6-0 lead that saw both Sam Raye-Steiner and Jason Lach record natural hat tricks. Lach finished with a snowman, eight goals on the day. It certainly was not the cleanest game of the weekend, as the teams combined for nine minutes of penalties, and seven of the penalties were personal fouls. Bowdoin had two different 6-0 runs in this game and led by as many as 10 on four different occasions.

The Saturday results set the stage for an epic Sunday. Two more epic matchups, each with a trip to the national championship on the line.

Nobody would have faulted Dickinson for falling to RIT in the semifinals. After all, in the regular season, RIT won this matchup 24-7. They led 20-4 after three quarters. Dickinson was on house money status, already a great showing for the year — something for every alum to be proud of.

The thing is, nobody told Dickinson it should just be happy to be there.

The Red Devils exploded out of the gate, taking a 5-1 lead in the second quarter. RIT was mistake-prone in critical spots, not something typically said about recent Tiger teams. As they trailed late, they forced turnovers but threw bad passes or gave the ball away themselves. Dickinson spent the afternoon executing well, controlling pace and punishing RIT mistakes.

They took their opportunistic and smart play to a 12-10 win. In the span of the last seven days, Dickinson has beaten Salisbury, RPI and RIT, three teams that lived in the top five all year, and booked a ticket to Foxborough to play for a title. This run has shades of Cabrini’s 2019 march to the Division III final, but one game remains.

The other semifinal was a NESCAC showdown between top-seeded Tufts and Bowdoin. The regular-season matchup produced a 15-14 overtime classic, with the Jumbos walking away with the win.

The rematch started in a similar fashion. Both teams kept leaning on their offenses to carry them through to the other side, but it seemed like settled offense was an option that neither team wanted to indulge in. As fast as fast could be, both teams dialed up their intensity and ball movement in equal measure. 

It’s not a strategy that works all that well against Tufts, but Bowdoin has the horses to run if they must. The Polar Bears even took a one-goal advantage into the halfway point of the first, but two quick Tufts goals put the Jumbos up, 3-2.

Bowdoin midfielder Huck Trafton was injured in the final minutes of the first quarter, though he did return, but that stopped play as Bowdoin rolled back down the field with the ball to try and score the equalizer. That crucial goal would not come. Will Emsing took the ball, isolated up top against a short stick and stuck the ball into the back of the net to make it 4-2 going into the second stanza.

And then all hell broke loose. The Jumbos went on a stampede of goals led by Emsing, Brooks Hauser and Jack Regnery, all of whom collected first-half hat tricks. Bowdoin had trouble adjusting to the speed of the Tufts attack but still managed to get a few goals — yet they still went into halftime down 14-7.

Things did not get much better for the Polar Bears in the second half, as they were outscored 4-1 in the third quarter and began to cycle their bench players into the game before the halfway point of the fourth. All told, the baby blue-clad pachyderms laid down 26 goals at the feet of the Polar Bears, who could only muster 11 in response.

The NESCAC champs are back in the national title game for the third year in a row.

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jamie Smith, Christopher Newport — Five goals
• Mason Bellinger, Christopher Newport — 19 saves (51%)
• Jason Lach, Bowdoin — Eight goals, one assist
• Max Ettinghausen, Tufts — Six goals
• Frank Barbera, Gettysburg — Three ground balls, four caused turnovers
• Charlie Baughan, Dickinson — Four goals
• Evan Karetsos, Dickinson — Seven caused turnovers, 10 ground balls combined
• Ben Trucksess, Dickinson — 25-for-43 on faceoffs, 17 ground balls, one goal, one assist combined
• Will Emsing, Tufts — Three goals, two assists
• Jack Regnery, Tufts — Six goals, one assist
• Victor Salcedo, Tufts — One goal, four ground balls, 9-for-16 on faceoffs
• Brooks Hauser, Tufts — Three goals, two assists
• Patrick Fitzgerald, Bowdoin — Five goals
• Casey Ryan, Bowdoin — Two goals, three assists

UP NEXT

Dickinson will be the sweetheart of the tournament, having run through some of the best teams in the nation to punch a ticket to Foxborough. The Red Devils’ last loss was April 9 to Gettysburg. Since then, they’ve beaten Swarthmore, Gettysburg, Denison, Salisbury, RPI and RIT. They are firmly in “playing with house money” territory, and it comes across in their play. They’re loose, they’re carefree and they’re confident.

The only thing more dangerous than that is an undefeated NESCAC team on a mission. Oh, and they’re also the defending national champions. And they’re basically playing at home.