Box Score Colorado College celebrated the 50th anniversary of men's lacrosse in style.
 
Capping what was one of the most significant games in program history, senior attacker Tyler Allen scored 1:54 into overtime to give the Tigers an 11-10 victory over Whittier College on Friday night at Washburn Field.
 
"That was a big one," Allen said of his shot that found the upper near-side corner. "Going into overtime, they have a good faceoff guy and I was pretty worried we weren't going to get the ball. Chase Murphy came up with that huge save and after that we had a chance."
 
Murphy used his left leg to stop Foster Cunningham's shot with 43 seconds elapsed in the extra session, and after senior defender P.J. Higgins snagged the ground ball, CC set up in the offensive zone and converted when senior attacker Jack Kreitler drew the Poets defense toward him and dished the ball to Allen.
 
"We wanted to be patient on offense. Kreitler looked inside and made a beautiful feed. They were kind of soft on me the whole game, he gave it to me and I happened to score."
 
It came as no surprise to Colorado College head coach Sean Woods that his seniors were instrumental in the deciding sequence.
 
"The last goal kind of symbolized the season for us," Woods said. "We had to play great defense with our seniors, we had to clear with our seniors, and then we end the game with our seniors. This is a special class. I'm awful proud of the way they played. That's a tough, tough group of kids."
 
With the victory, Colorado College retained possession of the Locker Stable Cup for the fourth year in a row and likely punched its ticket to the 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.
 
The Tigers led 9-6 after freshman attackman Jack McCormick scored 2:30 into the fourth quarter, but Whittier stormed back with a 4-1 run to stun the raucous crowd of 463 that made the first night game in the four-year history of the Locker-Stabler Cup even more riveting.
 
The Poets struck twice in the final minute of regulation to send the contest into overtime. Sophomore midfielder Aaron Self fought off a pair of defenders and scored on a behind-the-back shot with 58 seconds to go and junior midfielder Cunningham knotted the score from 12 yards out in the center of the field with 5.9 showing on the clock.
 
"It was a game you hate to see somebody lose," said Whittier head coach Brian Kelly. "We had a good opportunity in overtime with the first possession, the Colorado College goalie made a good save and they capitalized on the way down.
 
"It was exciting. There were lead changes, overtime and big playoff implications. You can't ask for much more. I just wish we were on the other end."
 
Kreitler led the Tigers with three goals, while freshman attacker Austin Davie scored twice and set up two other tallies. McCormick finished with two goals and an assist, while Allen had a pair of markers.
 
After sophomore attackman Maxwell Jones gave the Poets an early lead, Kreitler and Austin Davie struck just 28 seconds apart to put Colorado College on top.
 
Sophomore Aaron Self's tally 50 seconds into the second quarter pulled Whittier to within a goal, but this time the Tiger answered with markers by freshman Jack McCormick and Davie to build a three-goal advantage with 6:19 remaining in the second quarter.
 
Colorado College extended its lead to 6-2 on junior Dylan Davie's goal with 2:08 to play, only to see the Poets respond with three consecutive tallies of their own.
 
Sophomores Jonathan Kassity and Scott Pescheret struck nine seconds apart to cut the Poets' deficit to 6-4 with 1:25 to go, and then Jones struck for the second time with 4.5 ticks remaining to cut CC's lead to 6-5 after 30 minutes.
 
Murphy steered aside 13 shots for Colorado College, which improved to 10-5. It was his seventh game with double-digit saves this season.
 
Senior goaltender Nathan Kleponis made 14 saves for the Poets, who slipped to 7-4.
 
Both coaches believe that Whittier deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I think they have a great chance of making it," Woods said. "Even with this loss, they've put together a nice resume and with their strength of schedule, it would be a shame if they weren't in the tournament. They're that good."
 
Kelly hopes strength of schedule will be the deciding factor for the Poets.
 
"I certainly feel we're one of the five best 'Pool B' teams," he said. "Whether the committee will agree with that, I don't know. Our win percentage is a little low, but us and CC are far and away the highest in terms of strength of schedule."
 
The NCAA tournament bracket will be released on Sunday, May, 4, at 8 p.m. MT at www.NCAA.com.