POTSDAM, N.Y.—After early and late challenges from Plattsburgh State (2-6, 2-4 SUNYAC East), the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (7-3, 5-1) held on for a 17-14 win to close out the regular season. The win was the fourth in a row for the Bears and the first at Plattsburgh since 2007. Potsdam will be the No. 2 seed in the East for Tuesday's SUNYAC Semifinal at SUNY Cortland, the top seed in the West.
 
Sophomore midfielder Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) had a career-high six points on three goals and three assists to lead the Bears. Junior attackman Cam Talcott (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) added five points on four goals and an assist. Senior captain Josh Huiatt (Lisbon, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) also contributed six points on two goals and four assists and junior midfielder Alex Burley (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) scored three times.
 
The Cardinals came out firing in an attempt to avenge a 13-6 loss in Potsdam on April 9. Plattsburgh opened the contest with a 3-1 run on goals from Dilon Smith, Amos Grimm and Brian Pohoreckyj. Junior assistant captain Henry Reber (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) got the Bears' first goal at 7:43 with an assist from junior midfielder Alec Miller (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South). Burley netted his first at 4:53 to start a 6-0 Potsdam stretch. Reber set up Huiatt's first at 2:49 to tie the score and Walsh assisted on Burley's second at 1:18 to put Potsdam up for good.
 
Miller set up Walsh at 10:04 of the second quarter. Talcott continued the run at 9:03 on a helper from sophomore defender Ryan Derion (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and sophomore attackman Nick Zalucky (Wynantskill, N.Y./La Salle Institute) extended Potsdam's advantage to 7-3 at 6:56 with a man-up goal on a feed from Talcott. Plattsburgh fought back to within one on three straight, last two coming while a man-up. Smith, Stephen Kane and Grimm each struck to make it 7-6 at 3:32. With the momentum shifting, freshman attackman Cobie Cree (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) and Burley each countered with assists from Huiatt and Walsh, respectively. Potsdam was up 9-6 at the half.
 
The Bears started the third quarter with a 6-1 run to build a 15-7 lead by the 3:48 mark. Talcott, Cree and Walsh scored in succession to make it 15-6 at 10:59, with the latter two goals coming on assists from Walsh and Huiatt. Grimm scored his third for Plattsburgh at 9:44. Huiatt, Walsh and Talcott then each scored in 1:54 span. Huiatt assisted on Walsh's marker. Despite being up eight, the Cardinals still had plenty of time to put a scare into Potsdam. Smith and Andrew Braverman began the comeback attempt with two goals in 31 seconds. Talcott netted his third at 1:22 with another assist from Reber and the Bears led 16-9 after 45 minutes.
 
A 5-1 start to the final quarter put Plattsburgh in striking distance with 6:57 to play. Pohoreckyj. Kane and Smith closed the gap to 16-12 at 9:06. Miller put Potsdam back up by five at 8:15, but Connor Wolf and Smith answered with the next two to make it a 17-14 contest. Plattsburgh won the ensuing faceoff, but Potsdam forced a turnover and maintained possession for much of the rest of the contest, smothering the Cardinal offense.
 
Sophomore goalie Ben Fuchs (Fort Lauderdale, N.Y./Calvary Christian) made 10 saves for his eighth career victory. Christian Bassi allowed 12 goals and made six saves in the 42:16 minutes for the Cardinals. Killian Smith-Shea allowed five goals and made two saves in the other 17:44.
 
The six points now give Huiatt 175 in his career on 103 goals and 72 assists. He trails Hall of Famer Jed Hammill '03 by 10 points for third place on the program's all-time scoring list.
 
The Bears and Oneonta State each finished 5-1 in SUNYAC East play, but the Red Dragons won the head-to-head scoring tiebreaker by one goal.
 
The start time for Tuesday's semifinal matchup at Cortland is to be announced.