Editor’s Note: In 2019, the Cabrini Cavaliers men’s lacrosse team went on a dramatic run through the NCAA tournament on their way to the school’s first NCAA Championship in its history. This is the first of a two-part story chronicling their run to the title, with inside perspectives from head coach Steve Colfer and 2019 Atlantic East Conference Player of the Year Jordan Krug.
When the players and coaches of the Cabrini men’s lacrosse team reconvened ahead of the 2019 season, the Cavaliers had one thing on their mind: they wanted to win a national title. Because 2019 was the first year of competition for the then brand new Atlantic East Conference (AEC), there was no automatic berth in the NCAA tournament for winning the conference, which most conferences have (the AEC will have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for team sports starting in 2020-21).
As a result, the Cavaliers knew they had to win a lot of games to make enough noise to reach the tournament… so that’s what they did.
After going 17-2 in the regular season, with wins over #15 Lynchburg, #9 Dickinson and #13 Ithaca, and running the table in the AEC on the way to a 19th straight conference title, the Cavs earned the lone Pool B berth into the field of 36 schools. Their first-round opponent: Middle Atlantic Conference-Freedom champion DeSales Bulldogs.
“We felt good [about playing DeSales], they had one of the best years in program history and had some good players but we were at home, and we’re really good at home,” Cabrini’s men’s lacrosse head coach Steve Colfer said.
“We definitely respected DeSales, it’s awesome to see a program like that make such big strides as they did, all around they were playing well together but overall we knew we were on another level,” Jordan Krug, a senior attack for the 2019 team, said.
Krug, who was a star in each of his four years at Cabrini, had especially carried his team all season and that day against DeSales was no different. He scored four goals to go with an assist and five ground balls and sophomore Kyle Tucker added five scores and an assist of his own as the Cavaliers cruised to a 15-4 win.
“There’s always some first-round jitters, especially with the younger guys, and it always feels good to get over that hurdle and get that first win, so we felt good,” Colfer said.
“The only way to keep on moving is winning,” Krug said. “We were ready to move on and ready to take on Ursinus.”
But when they found out their second-round opponent, it wasn’t #8 Ursinus. After a 16-15 overtime upset, it was the unranked Springfield Pride making the trip to Edith Robb Dixon Field.
“That’s a good team, they have a legendary head coach, Keith Bugbee, who’s a Hall of Famer in our sport, and they’ve won a national championship in his tenure (1994),” Colfer said. “They have a storied history and they were a relative unknown being from Massachusetts.”
“We came in and kinda thought they were just an underdog and would come down from Mass and just roll over,” Krug said.
They didn’t roll over.
The two teams traded goals in the first half, with Cabrini only leading 6-5 at halftime. After the early battle, the Cavaliers managed to pull away in the second half, with Tucker and Krug combining for six goals and four assists in the final 30 minutes, leading the way to a 15-8 win.
“We traded goals early, we were a bit sluggish but that was more trying to feel out Springfield,” Colfer said. “But we got into a groove and pulled away.”
“We got punched in the mouth in the first half and that was a bit of a wake-up call,” Krug said. “We just knew we were going to come out and there was 30 minutes of lacrosse to be played and we’d do whatever we had to do to get a win there.”
That win advanced the Cavaliers to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017 and set up a grudge match with a familiar foe from the regular season: York College.
The fourth-ranked Spartans had beaten the Cavs 11-7 in the regular season, in a game where Cabrini scored five goals in the fourth quarter just to make it respectable, so the team was well aware of the task at hand.
“It’s a little iconic how it worked out like that, we had York that game and potentially Salisbury waiting after, so that was a big motivator for us,” Krug said. “We kinda hoped they would come in on their high horse and slip up but we knew it would be a battle.”
When the game started it looked like history was repeating itself, as York raced out to a 5-1 halftime lead.
“We all kinda came together right there and found determination, it was a big gut check,” Krug said. “Everyone really knew and we’d done it for 19-20 games before that and we came back out knowing there’s 30 minutes left and we realized we had to come together as a unit and rally together.”
“We were timid, just weren’t playing our style and we looked at the stats and just tried to get more aggressive and attack more the way we should have,” Colfer said. “Guys started making momentum plays and we were lucky enough to tie it up.”
After trading goals to start the third quarter, Krug scored to trim the deficit to three heading to the fourth period. After two more Krug scores with a Tucker goal in between, it was a tie game. The two teams traded goals three more times to end regulation and it was a 10-10 game headed to overtime.
After winning the faceoff and taking a timeout, the Spartans committed a turnover. Now it was Cabrini’s turn to call a timeout and draw something up.
“I’ve been in moments like that in the past, but nothing that extreme,” Krug said. “That muscle memory kicks in, that’s prime time competition right there, it was no matter what we had to do we just knew; we were vibing as a team and that was our spot to slow everything down and capitalize.”
Ty Kostack took the ball out of the timeout and passed up top to junior midfield Mike Gerzabek, who ran towards the middle of the field before sending it back to Kostack. Kostack darted towards the net but the defense stopped his run, forcing him to peel off and pass to midfield Jake Klein, who immediately sent it to Krug rotating towards midfield.
Krug ran around for a few seconds, looking for an opening to drive to the crease or pass to someone with an open look. As he ran out towards the wing he noticed an extra defender switched onto him and looked back to see Gerzabek wide open with nobody between him and the crease.
Gerzabek got the ball and, from behind the net, darted towards the goal, dove past the goalkeeper and, as he got pushed from behind, fired it into the net as a penalty flag was thrown.
“With the refs coming in to see where the ball landed, where [Gerzabek] landed, if there was a crease violation, it was only a few seconds but it felt like forever,” Colfer said.
“Time stopped really; a moment like that, depending on the ref, it can go either way,” Krug said. “But yeah time stopped, it felt like ages.”
“And then the guys stormed the field,” Colfer said.
The refs came together, exchanged a few thoughts, and threw their hands in the air.
Goal. Game over, Cavs win. They’re off to their first semifinals appearance in program history, just the second ever for Cabrini.
One win away from a national championship appearance and Hollywood couldn’t write the script any better, because standing in their way is the Cavaliers’ biggest nemesis in the 2010s. A team who was won six of their seven meetings all-time, who ended their season in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and beat the Cavs on their own turf in the regular season: #2 Salisbury.
Part II here.
