'Never Any Doubt,' Harford Gets Past Nassau to Win First NJCAA Title

It had to be Nassau.

To win its first NJCAA men’s lacrosse championship, Harford (Md.) Community College would have to dethrone the king of junior college lacrosse.

The Fighting Owls did just that Sunday, defeating 24-time NJCAA champion Nassau (N.Y.) Community College 13-8 in the championship game at Harford Sports Complex in Bel Air, Md.

Nassau had defeated Harford in each of the last two finals, including a double-overtime heartbreaker in 2021 and a 12-9 loss last year in which the Owls’ furious fourth-quarter comeback fell short.

Both of those games were in Garden City, N.Y. On its home turf Sunday, Harford left nothing to chance. The Owls broke open the game in the third quarter, scoring four unanswered goals in a less than eight minutes.

Sophomore attackman Dylan Tomarchio, whose college career was delayed for two years due to the pandemic and injuries, scored three of his game-high five goals in the third quarter.

“It’s all come full circle,” eighth-year coach Aaron Verardi told The Aegis. “I think back to when I started coaching here, and this was almost like a dream back then. We’ve had so many guys that bought in and so many guys believing in us in the program here.”

A four-time Region 20 champ, Harford (12-0) was the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Owls had notable regular season wins over Onondaga (N.Y.) — a comeback double-overtime triumph in the snow in the teams’ March 11 opener in Syracuse — and Nassau. They nudged past Howard (Md.) 11-6 in the semifinals Saturday.

Nassau topped Onondaga 10-8 in the other semifinal, a game in which goalie Andrew Tittman made 15 saves. The Lions (13-2) were done in, however, by 25 turnovers in Sunday’s final. Their lone two losses this year were to Harford, which outshot Nassau 54-24.

“This team is unreal. They’re undefeated and never had any doubt,” Verardi said. “I never doubted this team all year long and it built up to this point. Just an amazing group.”

Tomarchio was named the Offensive Player of the Tournament, while Lions freshman goalie Alex Epple earned Defensive Player of the Tournament honors. Twelve additional players were named to the NJCAA All-Tournament Team.

NJCAA ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

A – Cayden Collins, Harford (Md.)
A – Gregory Elijah-Brown, Onondaga (N.Y.)
A – Kamryn Gill, Nassau (N.Y.)
A – Xan Hayes, Harford (Md.)
A – Jack Milligan, Harford (Md.)
M – Conner Covey, Essex (Md.)
M – Trevor Sousa, Harford (Md.)
M – Sean Tierney, Onondaga (N.Y.)
FO – Kollin Vaught, Essex (Md.)
D – Brendan McCabe, Nassau (N.Y.)
G – Logan Lemelbaum, Onondaga (N.Y.)
G – Andrew Tittman, Nassau (N.Y.)

Offensive MVP: Dylan Tomarchio, Harford (Md.)

Defensive MVP: Alex Epple, Harford (Md.)