SUNY Potsdam Athletics

Ryan Duffy is the eighth SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse All-American and the third Bears goalkeeper to earn the honor. Rising to the starting job, he put together one of the most dominant seasons in program history in 2014.
 
Duffy grew up as the youngest of four children in Liverpool, N.Y. He had two sisters and a brother that drew him into sports along with a coach in his dad. He was soon playing soccer and hockey along with lacrosse. His brother and sisters helped him find his future position early in life.
 
"My siblings used to duct tape pillows to me and shoot things at me," said Duffy. "So I was kind of born to be a goalie."
 
Duffy also enjoyed having a sense of control of the game as a goalie.
 
"I found that was the spot for me, being the conductor of a defense," Duffy said. "I like that aspect. I grew up watching guys like Tillman Johnson and Jay Pfeiffer, and I liked the way that they played. Then, getting into middle school I just liked goalie the most out of anything. Also, I'm not going to lie. I didn't have to run as much. And I could deal with getting hit with a ball. So it kind of worked out perfectly."
 
In high school, Duffy, a defenseman turned forward in hockey, considered trying to build collegiate career on the ice. However, there was more interest from college coaches in his abilities in goal on the turf. Growing up around the success of the Syracuse Orange, Le Moyne Dolphins and Onondaga Lazers, it wasn't hard a hard sell for Duffy. It was just a matter of deciding where to go.
 
Duffy originally considered committing to Limestone University, a Division II school in Gaffney, South Carolina. After talking it over with his father, he decided it was too far away. Instead, Duffy chose to begin his collegiate career at junior college powerhouse Onondaga Community College.
 
Things didn't start smoothly for the goalie with the Lazers. Duffy broke his hand his freshman year and was forced to redshirt. The following season he saw limited action, but wasn't able to claim the starting job as Onondaga won its third straight national championship.
 
After completing his associate's degree, he then looked to complete a bachelor's and his playing career at another school. Duffy decided to accept a scholarship to attend and play for Division II Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. He played in 10 games for the Griffins during the Spring of 2012, helping them to an 8-6 mark.
 
Duffy didn't feel at home at Chestnut Hill and began looking for a new one toward the end of the season. He had previously spoken to Bears head coach Rick Berkman. Also, three good high school friends had attended SUNY Potsdam and he had siblings that had gone to Clarkson. So Duffy was familiar and comfortable with the Potsdam area.
 
"So I felt like about that time, I want to go be with friends," said Duffy. "I wanted to enjoy playing again. And be a little bit closer to home. I have a camp that's not too far away so I could go to Potsdam and just be around more friends and be in an area that I really like. So that definitely helped. I remember calling Nick Peryea after a game asking if they needed a goalie at Potsdam and that kind of got the ball rolling."
 
Peryea, a Liverpool High School teammate of Duffy's, passed on his interest to Berkman and the goalie transferred to Potsdam for the 2012-13 year. Duffy was one of five goalkeepers on the Bears roster for the 2013 season. Competition was tough as three would eventually have all-conference seasons or better. Senior Stefan Sloma won the starting job and ended the year as a second team All-SUNYAC selection. Duffy accepted his role and learned from Sloma's work ethic. On April 20, 2013, in a home game against Geneseo, he showed a flash of what was to come. Sloma was knocked out the game after a cheap shot in the second quarter. Duffy stepped in and made nine saves in the last 40 minutes to preserve the 11-10 win and pick up his first Potsdam victory.
 
"Being in high school, sometimes you kind of sit down and rest on your skills and you're not really working as hard," Duffy said. "So once you get to college, it's a whole different ballgame because everybody's good. So as I grew, I knew I needed to work harder and harder. I got a heavy dose of that from watching Stefan Sloma play. The work ethic he had was incredible to see and the time that he put in. So definitely going into my senior year and watching how Stefan prepared, I realized I needed to put in the same time and effort that he did."
 
The Bears entered their 2013 Fall Ball season with five goalies on the roster again, including eventual two-time all-conference stopper Pete Gropp. However, Duffy was a senior and confident he could become the starter. In a scrimmage against Clarkson, Duffy got off to a rough start. He credits Peryea, now an assistant coach, for convincing Berkman to give him the second quarter to prove himself. Duffy then turned his play around and while the starting job wasn't officially his yet, he felt that's when he truly seized it.
 
Entering the 2014 season, the Bears were coming off a playoff appearance, but were strong defensively and in the midfield with players like Jeff Love, Jake Gyder, Kyle Hauk, Matt Donovan, Ryan McConnell and Nick Waseleski. They could also score as Rob Kunz was back for his senior season and Pat Bonafede and Ed Doherty were coming into their own. There may have been a question mark between the pipes, but not in Duffy's mind.
 
The season started on March 1, at Skidmore College. The Bears trailed 7-3 at the half before rallying for an 8-7 double-overtime win. Duffy made 14 saves, including nine in the second half to cement the victory. The conference noticed his clutch play and he picked up his first conference goalie of the week award. The win set the tone for Duffy and his teammates.
 
"Everybody's got the jitters, so being able to come back from that and win in double overtime was huge," said Duffy. "I know for me personally, that was definitely a confidence boost in the second half to shut them out and into overtime. I just wanted to win so bad and all the other guys did, too. So I think overall as a team, we knew we had something special going on. I knew I needed to keep playing with that kind of motivation. And I knew everybody kind of felt the same way. I remember that game like it was yesterday. And defense played amazing in the second half and gave me all the shots that I needed to see. That was a big one."
 
After a blowout win over Alfred State and a 9-8 loss to Clarkson, Duffy was outstanding in a 5-3 win at Morrisville on March 19. He stopped 16 shots in the contest.
 
Heading into a March 22, neutral site showdown with Kean University, Duffy and Cougar goalie Dino Vitale were both nationally ranked in the top three for save percentage. However, Kean escaped with a 7-5 decision despite 10 more saves from Potsdam's keeper. Duffy picked up his second goalie of the week honor two days later.
 
Duffy's 17 stops in an 11-8 win over Utica on March 27 started a 5-1 run for the Bears. He made 15 saves and allowed three goals in three quarters of a 16-4 win over Castleton on April 5. He nabbed another goalie of the week award shortly after. The next two victories were arguably Potsdam's biggest of the season. On April 9, buoyed by Duffy's 19 saves, the Bears rallied for an 8-7 victory over Plattsburgh that put them in a driver's seat for the second seed in the SUNYAC Playoffs. On April 12, he turned aside a career-high 21 shots as Potsdam defeated Brockport 10-8 on the road. His fourth goalie of the week award came in after that performance.
 
Duffy made 14 saves in a 12-10 win over Oneonta on April 19, and 16 in a 10-6 win at Oswego on April 23, to lock up the two-seed. Potsdam fell 7-6 at Geneseo in the April 26 regular season finale despite 11 more stops from its goalie. Duffy then picked up his fifth and final goalie of the week honor on April 29.
 
The Bears hosted the powerful Cardinals again in the semifinals on April 30, in a torrential downpour. This time Plattsburgh was too much to handle as they handed Potsdam an 11-6 defeat to cap the season. Duffy did his part, turning aside 19 Cardinal chances.
 
"That was definitely a tough game," Duffy said. "Obviously, you don't want to go out like that, but that's just kind of the name of the game. We couldn't get going. Plattsburgh was a great team with lot of great talent. I still wish we got to play Cortland again, because I think we would have given them a run for their money. But that's just sports. Some days we're not going to have it. It was a tough one, because it was over for all the seniors. That's our competitiveness. And just having to walk away from it was tough. We just came out on the wrong side that day."
 
A week later, Duffy was named SUNYAC Player of the Year and first team All-SUNYAC. He was 10-6 with a .659 save percentage and a 7.70 goals-against average. He led the league and was third in the country in the former category and second in the conference in the latter. Berkman was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year and five other Bears earned all-conference status. Duffy's honors continued to roll in. After claiming the Maxcy/Molnar award for Potsdam's top male senior athlete, he was named a second team USILA All-American on May 20. He closed out his Bears career playing in the USILA Senior All-Star Game in Baltimore with his teammates Kunz and Love.
 
"I was very excited," said Duffy. "Just hearing that I made all-American was huge. I mean, I had a lot of coaches tell me that I wouldn't start because I was too inconsistent. So it's kind of gratifying just to know that hey, you guys kind of missed out. But everything happens for a reason. And I thank Coach Berkman for giving me that shot. That was probably the biggest thing. When I was a kid I was like, I want to be an all-American. And going through college, I wasn't playing. So when it happened, I was definitely like, wow, that's crazy. I'd sit in my room and talk to my older sister and she's like, what do you want to do in your career? I was like I want to be a starting goalie and I want to be an All-American. And then that came to fruition. I definitely wish I would have, taken it in more. So those are special moments that you'll always remember. It was cool winning the award and then playing in the all-star game with Rob and Jeff. That whole weekend was definitely cool."
 
Duffy graduated that spring with a degree in business administration and spent the following year coaching in Pennsylvania and Michigan. He returned to the Bears as an assistant coach for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
 
"Once you're in the game (as a coach), you can make adjustments, but you have no control," Duffy said. "I think that was probably the hardest factor for me. Not being able to play."
 
After his second season as a coach, Duffy decided to go in a different direction with his life. A direction he had thought about for a long time, the U.S. Navy.
 
"I'd always considered it when I was younger," said Duffy. "My grandfather was a naval chief, but it was never the right time (for me). After college I had looked at it, but I was like, not yet. I wanted to go see what other avenues there were. But I got to a point where if I wanted to be a head coach, I needed a lot of maturity. And I knew going in the military, there are age limits. So for what I wanted to do, I needed to jump full force into it. I grew up always admiring military members. I just found the right place and the right time for me to join."
 
Duffy went through basic training and became a Navy corpsman. Rather than serve as a medic on a naval vessel, he chose to work as one for a Marine unit. He served with a heavy weapons platoon in the Middle East and when they entered a combat area, he was with them.
 
"There's some phenomenal people throughout the Marine Corps," Duffy said. "It's just been an honor to work with them. Just being able to be a part of the First Marines is a huge honor for me. Definitely a cool experience being around a wild a group of guys. So it reminds me of my college days of being on a team. It's definitely a tight knit group."
 
Duffy sees his role as a corpsman as similar to his college position.
 
"It's kind of like being a goalie," said Duffy. "It's like you're that one person. We've got another corpsman and there's usually two men within the group, but it's kind of that same feeling of being a goalie. You're not within anything major (combat), but you're always there to backstop anything. So kind of fits the role of being a goalie pretty well."
 
After the Navy, Duffy has considered becoming a physician's assistant or going to medical school. For now he's just proud to serve his country.
 
Duffy was originally selected to be inducted with the Class of 2020, but the pandemic and deployments forced a postponement. Finally, on September 30, 2023, he took his rightful place in the Bears Hall of Fame.