C.W. Post lacrosse wins NCAA Division II title

Thirty shots a day. That was the daily dose C.W. Post coach John Jez prescribed for sophomore attack Eddie Plompen to improve the former West Islip star's shooting accuracy around the crease.

"It was a drill we did in practice. We'd feed him inside and he'd finish at the crease," Jez said. "We wanted to expand his skills in that area."

How's 4-for-4 shooting on the sport's biggest stage sound? After all that practice, perfect!

Plompen scored four goals, three in the fourth quarter, as C.W. Post rallied from a three-goal halftime deficit Sunday to win its second straight national Division II men's lacrosse championship, defeating Le Moyne, 14-9, before a crowd of 20,374 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Le Moyne fell in the final for the third straight year after winning back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007. It was the second straight year the Pioneers (16-1) have beaten the Dolphins (15-2) from Syracuse. Post won last year's championship, 8-7, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

"A lot of people doubt you when you lose two stars," Plompen said, referring to last year's attack tandem of Greg Cerar and Dave Loftus, who totaled 93 goals. "This year it was a different kind of offense. We played more as a unit because we needed to. We didn't have those two big key players to lean on. There's really no one star on this offense."

Actually, there were several stars Sunday for Post. Plompen, who also had an assist, got help from middies Joe Meo (Sayville) and Keith Rodriguez, who scored three goals each. Attack Nick Coric had a goal and three assists. Faceoff specialist Mike Cama won seven of nine early and several key ones late in going 15-for-27. He also turned a faceoff win into a dazzling unassisted goal in the second quarter.

Post went ahead 4-1 but then was outscored 7-1 as Le Moyne took an 8-5 halftime lead. Jack Harmatuk, the Division II attackman of the year, had three goals and an assist in the half. But Joe Blount of Lawrence led a defensive unit that blanked the Dolphins for 18:27 in one stretch and held Harmatuk scoreless in the second half as the Pioneers scored nine of the last 10 goals.

Their flurry began when Meo scored his second of the game 2:57 into the third quarter. The senior scored his 41st of the season and last of his career on an angled blast just inside the post to tie it at 8. Coric's solo dash from behind the net with three seconds left in the third quarter put Post ahead to stay.

"Share the ball as a unit. That's worked for us all year," Meo said. "Being a senior and being more of a leader this year, it was my goal to defend the title. There's no better place to play your last game then on this stage."

Winning that last game is even better. Plompen's fourth-quarter sharpshooting made that a reality. He took a fast-break feed from Coric and bounced it home to make it 10-8. LeMoyne cut it to 10-9 with 9:14 left, but that was the Dolphins' last gasp.

Mike Messina, a Sayville teammate of Meo's, scored unassisted to make it 11-9. Plompen made a backdoor cut and scored on a feed from Justin Patterson. Rodriguez scored unassisted and Plompen took a pass from Coric and went top shelf while cutting across the crease to conclude the scoring.

"The key all year was for the offense to play as a unit," said Plompen, who led Post with 45 goals and 54 points. "I filled my role and this feels great."

Tufts takes D-III title. Jamie Atkins scored three goals and D.J. Hessler had a goal and four assists as Tufts defeated Salisbury, 9-6, in the Division III championship game.

Tufts raced to a 6-1 lead in winning the first national title in school history in any sport. Sophomore goalie Steven Foglietta of Oceanside made seven of his 13 saves in the fourth quarter. Ryan Molloy of Ward Melville scored a goal for Tufts.