CORTLAND, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team (0-2-1, 0-2-1 SUNYAC) fell to SUNY Cortland (1-2, 1-2) 4-2 on Friday night. Sophomore forwards Ben Thompson (Canterbury, Conn./New Hampshire Avalanche) and Robert Clerc (Wappinger Falls, N.Y./Oswego State) each scored for the Bears.
 
After 18 minutes of scoreless hockey, Ethan Homitz put the Red Dragons up 1-0 with two minutes left in the period. Thompson struck just 1:45 later with an assist from sophomore forward Devin Panzeca (Lake Zurich, Ill./East Coast Wizards) and the teams entered the break even at one apiece.
 
Thanks in part to two power plays, Cortland outshot the Bears 18-12 in the second period. Potsdam sophomore goalie Michael Paglucca (North Reading, Mass./New Hampshire Avalanche) stopped 17, but the Red Dragons went up 2-1 late in the stanza. Stephano Alonzi put Cortland up for good with 1:04 left.
 
After killing off a Potsdam power play to open the third, Homitz netted the game-winner at the 6:17 mark. Clerc answered with a helper from senior assistant captain Tyler Young (Massena, N.Y./Kanata Lasers) at 8:59. However, the Bears couldn't get even and Tommy Ritchie closed the scoring at 16:48 to make it a 4-2 final.
 
Paglucca finished with 36 stops and Red Dragons goalie Nick Modica turned aside 39 for the win.
 
Potsdam outshot Cortland 41-40 and went 0-for-3 on the man advantage. The Red Dragons were 0-for-4.
 
The Bears head to No. 5 Oswego State tomorrow night at 7 p.m. to finish out the weekend.