POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team has earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament. The Bears will head to SUNY Plattsburgh this Wednesday for a 4 p.m. semifinal showdown with the second seeded Cardinals.
The Bears posted a 7-7 regular season record, including a 3-3 mark in SUNYAC play. Potsdam recorded conference wins over SUNY Geneseo (8-7), Oswego State (16-5) and the College at Brockport (16-7) this spring.
Offensively, the Bears have had balanced scoring with freshman attackman
Eric Soderquist (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) (25g-15a-40pts.) and junior attackman
Ed Doherty (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) (29-6-35) leading the way. Senior captain
Jon Woodworth (Great Bend, N.Y./Carthage) has put together a career year (16-10-26) and freshman attackman
Dalston Day (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) has battled through injury to emerge as a scoring threat (16-7-23). Junior captain
Pat Bonafede (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) (13-9-22) and junior midfielder
Matt Kennedy (Clay, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) (17-3-20) have provided an additional offensive punch as well.
Defensively, junior long stick middie
Lindsey Pound (Henderson, N.Y./Immaculate Heart), junior captain
Kyle Hauk (Sackets Harbor, N.Y./Immaculate Heart), senior captain
Nick Waseleski (Victor, N.Y./Victory) and junior defender
Andrew Swords (Black River, N.Y./Carthage) have limited opponents to just 8.93 goals-per-game. Pound leads the team in ground balls (69) and caused turnovers (19). Hauk has collected 30 ground balls and caused 17 turnovers. Waseleski (27gb, 7cto) and Swords (14gb, 10cto) have also made their presence felt.
Two-time SUNYAC Goalie of the Week, junior
Pete Gropp (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) seized control of the starting job this season. He's posted a 6-6 record and leads the SUNYAC with an 8.24 goals-against-average and .605 save percentage.
Face-off specialist
Brandon Grace (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan) has guided Potsdam to its best face-off winning percentage (.563) in six years. The junior has 153 wins this season, the most by a Bear since 2010.
Potsdam will face a difficult test in Plattsburgh. The Cardinals are 12-5 this season with a 4-2 mark in the conference. They defeated the Bears 16-11 last Wednesday in Plattsburgh and topped Potsdam 11-6 in last year's semifinal matchup. The Cardinals enter the postseason with the SUNYAC's top offense, scoring 12.71 goals-per-game. Junior Brendan Damm (47-29-76) and seniors James Read (23-32-55) and Jack Felter (43-6-49) rank one, three and four in the SUNYAC in points-per-game. In goal, junior Matt Massaria, a three-time SUNYAC Goalie of the Week, is 12-5 with an 8.63 GAA and .596 save percentage.
Tickets for Wednesday's contest are $6 for adults, $3 for kids ages 5-12 and free for children four and under as well as all SUNY students with a valid student ID card.
Top seed SUNY Cortland (10-4, 6-0) will host fourth seeded Oneonta (7-7, 3-3) in Wednesday's other semifinal.
