POTSDAM, N.Y.—The weather was cold and blustery, but the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team's (1-0) offense was red hot in a season-opening 14-6 win over SUNY Poly (0-1) on Saturday. Sophomore midfielder
Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) matched a career-high of six points with a personal best four goals and two assists. Sophomore attackman
Cobie Cree (Hogansburg, N.Y./Salmon River) scored a career-high five points on four goals and an assist. In his collegiate debut, freshman midfielder
Owen Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) matched his brother with six points on three goals and three assists.
The first quarter was the most tightly contested as the teams felt each other out.
Owen Walsh set up Bears senior captain
Cam Talcott (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) to open the scoring at 13:39. The Wildcats countered with two goals in the next four minutes for their only lead of the contest. Senior midfielder Brody Guido (North Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) scored at 12:47 and freshman midfielder Payton Thomas (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) made it 2-1 with 9:08 on the clock. Potsdam answered with the next four in a row. Cree scored his first on a feed from
Owen Walsh at 7:35 to tie the score. With 56 seconds left, Owen Wash scored his first while Potsdam was a man-up with an assist from
Peyton Walsh. The Bears led 3-2 after 15 minutes.
Potsdam took control of the contest in the second quarter, outscoring SUNY Poly 6-1.
Owen Walsh made it 4-2 with another man-up marker on a helper from Cree at 14:53. Just over three minutes later,
Peyton Walsh scored with an assist from senior attackman
Ryan Spaman (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg Free Academy). Senior midfielder Shane Wyman (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) slowed Potsdam's momentum with a goal at 11: 12 and the Wildcats were within 5-3. The Bears then went on a 7-0 run, including four before the half, to put the game away. Cree buried a feed from freshman attackman
Ryan Hughes (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) at 7:57.
Peyton Walsh set up senior captain
Henry Reber (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) at 4:13. Junior midfielder
Alex Burley (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) caught a pass from senior captain
Alec Miller (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) and barreled his way in for a goal at 2:25. Miller then setup
Peyton Walsh at 1:04 and Potsdam led 9-3 at halftime.
Owen Walsh opened the scoring in the second half at 11:35 of the third quarter with an assist from Reber. Cree netted the next two straight on helpers from Spaman and Talcott at 9:40 and 3:07, respectively. The Wildcats finally got one back at 2:27 as junior attackman Amelio Ripa (New Hartford, N.Y./New Hartford) made it 12-4.
Owen Walsh then assisted on Peyton's third goal with 26 seconds left and Potsdam was back up nine after 45 minutes.
SUNY Poly scored two of the final three goals in the fourth quarter. Graduate student attacker Edward Rosachi (Highland Mills, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) scored the Wildcats' fifth goal at 13:07 and junior attackman Andrew Maycock (Deerfield, N.Y./Whitesboro) got their last while a man-up at 11:17.
Peyton Walsh then closed the scoring with an unassisted tally at 4:17.
Junior goalie
Ben Fuchs (Fort Lauderdale, N.Y./Calvary Christian) earned the win after stopping five shots and allowing three goals in the first half. Sophomore goalie
Liam O'Neil (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) made three saves and allowed three goals in the second half. Junior goalie Mathew Johnson (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) was tagged with the loss after allowing nine goals and stopping six shots in the first half. He was relieved by sophomore Joseph VanZandt (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford-Mendon), who made five saves and allowed five goals in the last 30 minutes.
The Bears are back in action on Wednesday when they host 11th-ranked St. Lawrence University at 4 p.m.
