NEW PALTZ, N.Y.—SUNY New Paltz (8-4-3, 4-2-1) scored three second half goals to defeat the SUNY Potsdam men's soccer team (5-6-4, 0-4-3) 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore midfielder Owen Santos (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) scored for the Bears and junior goalkeeper Lucas Schiel (Bremen, Germany/Colegio Humboldt) made six saves.
 
The Hawks controlled the first half, firing 10 shots in Potsdam's direction. Of the four shots that made it through to Schiel, he stopped three, but at 25:55 Joseph DiPreta finished a feed from Michael Horner and Tim Kane for a 1-0 lead. New Paltz kept up the pressure and generated three corner kicks, but the score remained the same at the half.
 
The Bears evened the play in the early part of the second half. However, in the 54th minute, Philip Varner extended the lead to 2-0 on a helper from Ryan Hilliard. Santos finally got the Bears on the board at 61:40 with an assist from junior forward Anderson Velasquez (Bronx, N.Y./Marble Hill) to close the gap back to one. Unfortunately, Potsdam couldn't find the equalizer and the Hawks pulled away with the final two goals of the contest. Gabriel Cruz struck at 76:38 and again at 84:10 to close the scoring at 4-1.
 
New Paltz goalie Christian Micheli made two saves for the win.
 
The Bears will host SUNY Geneseo in their conference finale on Saturday at 3 p.m. Saturday is also Senior Day and Potsdam will celebrate Bergen Criswell (Preston Hollow, N.Y./Greenville), Gabriel Lizana (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa), Raymond Jones (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), Donny Ophals (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) and Daniel Tietjen (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) prior to the contest for their careers.