POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (2-2) rallied in the second half before falling to Morrisville State (4-2) 8-6 on Saturday afternoon. Junior midfielder
Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) led the Bears with two goals and an assist.
The Mustangs built a 4-0 halftime lead on strong defense and immaculate goaltending from sophomore Dylan Laplace (Chester, Conn./Valley Regional). Laplace stopped all 10 shots he faced in the opening 30 minutes. Sophomore midfielder Dante Patriarco (Cortland, N.Y./Homer) gave Morrisville the lead for good just 55 seconds into the contest on a shot from the right side of the net. At 7:18, freshman midfielder Luke Strong (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Olympia) made it 2-0 while the Mustangs were a man-up.
With 7:25 on the clock in the second quarter, Morrisville senior midfielder Savion Williams (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill) bounced off a couple Potsdam defenders before finding the back of the net. Patriarco scored his second while the Mustangs were a man-up to make it 4-0 with 3:26 left in the half.
Morrisville opened up their biggest lead of the game with two more goals in the first 1:49 of the third quarter. Sophomore attackman Roman Reiss (Lafayette, N.Y./Lafayette) extended the lead to five at 14:34 and fellow sophomore attackman Chris Picciott (Brewerton, N.Y./Central Square) added another man-up goal at 13:11. Strong individual efforts by junior midfielder
Alex Burley (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) and Walsh at 12:14 and 11:44 looked to get the Bears' offense going, but the Mustangs answered with two more to regain the six-goal advantage. Picciott netted his second and Morrisville's, fourth man-up goal at 4:05 and sophomore attackman Gerald Klubek (Eagle, Colo./Fountain Valley School) made it 8-2 at 2:58. Senior captain
Cam Talcott (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) began the Bears comeback attempt with a goal at 1:34 and Potsdam trailed 8-3 after 45 minutes.
Walsh opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a goal at 11:51. Freshman attackman
Ryan Hughes (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) closed the gap to 8-5 with a goal at 9:08. Morrisville was able to hold off the Bears and run a lot of clock over the remainder of the game. With 3:55 left, Walsh found sophomore attackman
Cobie Cree (Hogansburg, N.Y./Salmon River) for Potsdam's sixth goal, but the Bears were unable to get any closer.
Sophomore goalie
Liam O'Neil (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) made two saves and allowed four goals in the first half for the Bears. Junior
Ben Fuchs (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Calvary Christian Academy) made three saves and allowed four goals in the second half. Laplace finished the day with 15 saves.
Senior defender
Blaze Benedict (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) continued his strong play with four caused turnovers, four ground balls and five faceoff wins. Junior defender
Ryan Derion (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) also had a good day with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Potsdam is back in action on Tuesday night when the Bears host Route 11 Rival SUNY Canton at 7 p.m.
