CORTLAND, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (10-5) upset top-seeded SUNY Cortland 8-7 to advance to the SUNYAC Championship for the second time in program history. It ends a 32-game losing streak to the Red Dragons and is the first win in the series since 1999.
 
Junior midfielder Owen Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) led the Bears with a four-goal, one-assist effort. Junior attackman Cobie Cree (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) had four points on a goal and three assists. Graduate student attackman Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa), sophomore midfielder Tyler Gould (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) and sophomore defender Ryan Wassmer (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchougue-Medford) also scored for the Bears. Sophomore goalie Saka Thompson (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) made 11 saves for his 12th career victory.
 
Peyton Walsh got the Bears on the board just one minute into the contest. Cree made it 2-0 44 seconds later. After Cortland finally answered with a marker from Nick Stoecker, Owen Walsh buried his first at 9:47. Potsdam led 3-1 after 15 minutes.
 
Sam Rothman and Bradley Cunningham scored the only two goals of the second quarter to forge a 3-3 tie at the half.
 
Cunningham gave the Red Dragons a 4-3 lead at 7:58, but Potsdam answered with three straight. Owen Walsh scored his second to tie the game at 6:35. Wassmer scored his second career goal with an assist from Cree at 5:05. Cree then set up Owen Walsh's second while a man-up at 2:14 and the Bears led 6-4. Caden Yancey made it a one-goal game with seven seconds left in the third and started a 3-0 Cortland run. It was 6-5 through 45 minutes.
 
Yancy struck again to tie the game just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter. Aidan McHugh put the Red Dragons up a final time just eight seconds later. At 11:07 Owen Walsh assisted on Gould's man-up goal and Potsdam never trailed again. Owen Walsh scored his fourth and the eventual game-winner on feed from Cree at 6:10. The Bears defense cracked down after the goal and allowed just one shot the rest of the game.
 
Cortland goalie Travis Wagner was solid in a losing effort, making 15 saves.
 
Bears sophomore faceoff specialist Drew Costello (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg Free Academy) won 10 attempts and collected six ground balls. Sophomore defender Alex Farbin-Griggs (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) collected five ground balls and caused one turnover.
 
The victory puts Potsdam in the title game for the first time since 2011. It's also the first time since the SUNYAC Tournament began 2002 that Cortland has not reached the championship game.
 
The fourth-seeded Bears now head to second seed SUNY Geneseo for the championship contest at a time to be announced. The teams have met in the postseason three times. The Knights won the 2007 (14-8) and 2008 (16-8) meetings and Potsdam took the 2011 semifinal (18-17) to advance to the championship that year.