Ryan Gebhardt's overtime goal gave Stevens a 10-9 comeback victory over Springfield in the most exciting game of the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Ducks trailed 9-4 in the third quarter before scoring the final six goals of the game. Gebhardt, a freshman attackman, had a hat trick for Stevens.
Sophomore goalie Jack Braswell, who had played less than 100 minutes for the season, entered the game with 11:12 to play in the third quarter and proceeded to blank Springfield for the final 27 minutes of the game, making five saves to earn the win for the Ducks.
There were no notable upsets in Wednesday's second round, but a few compelling games. One of the better matchups featured Ithaca bouncing back from a 23-3 drubbing to No. 1 RIT in the Liberty League championship game by beating Stevenson 15-12.
The Bombers trailed 7-6 at the half, but scored the first four goals of the second half to take a 10-6 lead and never trailed again. Connor Brumfield led Ithaca with three goals and four assists. Stevenson, which started the season 0-5 against a murderous schedule, had won 12 of 13 games entering the contest.
The Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) each sent three teams to the Sweet 16.
Wesleyan, which began the season ranked No. 1 in the Nike/US Lacrosse rankings, was one of NESCAC teams moving on — posting a 16-12 win over Cortland State behind five goals from freshman Ronan Jacoby.
Also advancing from the NESCAC were Amherst, a 24-7 winner over Keene State, and Tufts, a 25-8 winner over Merchant Marine. Dylan Peabody had four goals and four assists in Amherst's win and Tufts outscored Merchant Marine 11-0 in the first quarter. Freshman Garrett Samuelson had a career-high six points (5g, 1a) for the Jumbos, the NESCAC champion and No. 2 ranked team in the Nike/US Lacrosse rankings.
Two-time defending national champion Salisbury opened its title defense with a 19-5 victory over Morrisville State to headline the CAC trio. The Gulls outscored Morrisville 8-0 in the opening quarter and were led Josh Melton (3g, 3a) and Garrett Reynolds (4g).
Also advancing from the CAC were York, which downed Western New England 15-7, and Christopher Newport, which beat Roanoke 17-11. Jake Hvazda had a hat trick as York pulled away from a 6-4 halftime lead. CNU earned its first-ever NCAA tournament victory and avenged a regular season loss to Roanoke behind a six-point afternoon from Matthew Crist (3g, 3a).