Overtime thriller earned Medina its first lacrosse sectional championship

Contributed Photo – Nick Hermann, left, who scored the game winner and Sean Moriarty celebrate Medina’s sectional championship victory over Gowanda.

Avenging a pair of regular season losses, No. 2 seeded Medina outlasted top seeded defending champion Gowanda 13-12 in overtime to capture the 2002 Section VI Class C lacrosse championship and earn a berth in the state playoffs.

Claiming the title in dramatic fashion, the Mustangs earned their first, and to date only, sectional championship on a goal  just 16 seconds into the overtime period by Nick Hermann who completed a rush from midfield by rifling the ball into the Gowanda net from point blank range.

However, the Mustangs needed big plays by both the offense and defense in the hectic final two minutes of regulation time to pull even and force the contest into overtime.

Medina pulled even at 12-12 on a goal by Andy Hermann off an assist from Nate Snell with 1:59 remaining.

Mustangs goalie Nick Outterson then preserved the tie by coming up with a huge save with just two seconds remaining to force overtime.

Medina had trailed by two, 11-9, heading into the final period but rallied into a tie on goals by Adam Dresser and Sean Moriarty before Gowanda regained the lead for the last time at 12-11 by scoring with 2:11 to go.

In all eight players contributed goals for the Mustangs in the sea-saw contest which saw seven ties and four lead changes as Nick Hermann netted three, Snell and Moriarty two and Andy Hermann, Jevon Cecchini,  Dresser, Mike Maryjanowski, Kevin Martin and Trevor Fox each added one.

Medina had lost to Gowanda during the regular season by scores of 7-6 and 18-11.

The Mustangs advanced to the finals by romping past Salamanca 16-6 in the semifinals for their first ever postseason victory.

Medina, which led 9-3 at the half, got four goals from Nick Hermann, two each from Martin, Dresser and Moriarty and one each from Cecchini, Andy Hermann, Josh Hill, Fox, Mohammad Abidi and Mike Crane.

However, the Mustangs historic postseason run came to an end in the Far West Regional as defending state champion PennYan rolled to a 19-2 win.

PennYan, which set the tone with three lightning quick goals in the first three minutes, went on to hold leads of 7-1 after the first period and 12-2 at the half.

Medina again advanced to a Section VI Class C title round matchup against Gowanda in 2003 after again downing Salamanca 18-12 in the semis.

This time though Gowanda gained revenge for the 2002 loss by downing Medina 15-2.