NE10 40th Anniversary Home Page
The 2004 men's lacrosse season began with grit and focus; the type of determination that can only be derived from the heartbreak of the final game from the previous season. The Dolphins cruised through the regular season and NE10 Championship with a perfect 14-0 record having outscored their opponents 229 to 63. A dominating regular season earned Le Moyne a home game in the NCAA semifinals, where they defeated New York Tech, 7-5, to avenge a one-goal loss to the Bears in the same round the previous year and earn a berth in the College's first national championship game. In front of over 19,000 fans at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium,
Limestone entered the final seconds of the fourth quarter with a 10-9 advantage and a title clear in its sights. Le Moyne forced a turnover with nine seconds remaining, allowing junior attackman Brandon Spillett an opportunity. Dodging to the cage, Spillett slipped the game-tying goal past the Limestone goalie with two seconds left to send the game to overtime. Following one overtime period, the Dolphins capped the remarkable season with a double overtime goal by Spillett, his 7th goal of the game, to capture the College's first national championship. The national championship also marked the first by a men's program (regardless of sport) in the Northeast-10 Conference's history.
During the Dolphins' run to the national championship, they went undefeated in NE10 play (10-0) for the fifth straight year, extending their unbeaten streak in conference action to 50 consecutive games. With a 12-0 mark in the regular season, the Dolphins extended their unblemished mark in regular-season action to 32 straight contests. The Dolphins then went on to win their fourth straight NE10 Championship, downing Bryant, 7-6, as Spillett scored four times and Kyle Reichel netted the game-winner with 4:57 to play.
In the NCAA semifinal, hosted on campus for the second straight year, the Dolphins fell behind the Bears within 34 seconds, but tallied the next six goals to take control of the game. Le Moyne opened the scoring in the fourth quarter for a 7-2 advantage en route to the 7-5 victory. Six Dolphins combined for the seven goals, while redshirt freshman goalkeeper Jared Corcoran made 15 saves, including 10 in the second half.
In the national championship game, the Dolphins faced Limestone College, which was playing in its then-Division II record fifth straight title affair. The teams traded goals in the first half, which ended with the Dolphins leading, 4-3. Le Moyne took a pair of two-goal leads in the third quarter before the Saints responded with three straight for a 7-6 edge. Following 2-0 spurts by each team and a goal by Spillett to even the score at nine apiece with 7:55 left, Limestone took its final lead of the game with 1:11 to go. After the Dolphins turned the ball over in the closing seconds, Matt Holdridge forced a Limestone turnover near the right corner with nine seconds to play.
After the Saints called their final timeout to set up their defensive strategy, Spillett eluded the Limestone defenders and fired in the game-knotting goal from the right edge of the crease with just two seconds left. Following a scoreless first overtime period, during which Le Moyne committed three turnovers and Corcoran made a pair of saves, sophomore face-off specialist Chris Moore won the opening faceoff of the second overtime and the Dolphins called timeout with 3:39 to go. Spillett registered the game-winning goal 23 seconds later from the right edge of the crease after taking a pass from sophomore Craig Rosecrans. For his seven-goal performance, six of which came after halftime, Spillett was the unanimous choice for the Most Outstanding Player of the championship. On the defensive side, Corcoran made 15 saves and sophomore Travis Tarr held the nation's leading scorer to just one goal.
Spillett, Tarr and Rob Trowbridge were named to the USILA All-America First Team and Travis Morgia was tabbed honorable mention. Additionally, Trowbridge was the recipient of the Lt. j.g. Donald MacLaughlin Jr Award as the nation's top midfielder. Corcoran, Morgia, Spillett, Tarr, and Trowbridge were named to the NE10 All-Conference First Team, while Ryan Lewis, Justin Wnuk and Bob Tulowiecki was selected to the second team. Tarr earned his first of three straight NE10 Defensive Player of the Year awards and Corcoran collected his first of four consecutive NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year awards.
Le Moyne was unable to repeat as champions in 2005, but it was just the start of the Dolphin dynasty. Le Moyne was a perfect 17-0 heading into the 2006 NCAA Title game and dispatched Dowling 12-5 for its second NCAA Championship. One year later the Dolphins took down Mercyhurst 6-5 for a second consecutive title and three in four years by Sheehan's squad. In the 17 years since the team's first NCAA Championship Game appearance, Le Moyne has reached the title game nine times with five NCAA Championships.
Le Moyne Men's Lacrosse Links of Note:
