GENESEO, N.Y.—A fast start and a strong finish lifted second-seeded SUNY Geneseo (13-6) over the fourth-seeded SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (10-6) 20-10 in the 2024 SUNYAC Championship on Saturday afternoon. Graduate student attackman Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) scored three goals. Junior midfielder Owen Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) had two goals and an assist. Junior midfielder Ryan Hughes (Corning, N.Y./Corning Painted Post) also contributed three points on a goal and two assists. Junior attackman Cobie Cree (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) scored two goals and junior midfielder Drew Rose (Brasher Falls, N.Y./St. Lawrence Central) recorded two assists.
 
Geneseo set the tone early, winning the opening faceoff and forcing Bears sophomore goalie Saka Thompson (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) to make a save just seconds in to the game. The Knights kept up the pace and scored seven times in the first 7:17 of the contest. Robert Boniello and Cole Bollin each scored twice. Thompson made several big saves to keep the contest from getting to far away. Owen Walsh finally got the Bears on the board at 5:45 and senior captain Bryce Tyler (Camden, Maine/Camden Hills) added another goal at 2:01. Geneseo led 7-2 after 15 minutes.
 
The teams split the eight goals of the second quarter. Cree scored Potsdam's third straight with a rocket from the left side of the net after a pass from Owen Walsh at 14:23. Geneseo answered with the next two from Riley Henselder and Jimmy Atkinson. Rose set up Cree at 8:36 to make it 9-4. Again, the Knights countered with two from Boniella and BB Syrop for an 11-4 lead. Hughes scored a man-up goal at 4:36 with another helper from Rose. Peyton Walsh added another man-up goal at 1:46 with an assist from Hughes. It was an 11-6 contest at the break.
 
After another Boniello goal 1:35 into the second half, the Bears got to within on four on back-to-back, man-up goals from Peyton Walsh. It was 12-8 at 10:10. Unfortunately, the Knights pulled away with the final three goals of the third. Geneseo led 15-8 after three quarters.
 
The Knights put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. They struck for three goals in the first 3:04. The markers extended the run to six and built the biggest lead of the contest at 18-8. Owen Walsh ended the run with a goal at 9:49. Sophomore midfielder Tyler Gould (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) followed 31 seconds later two trim the deficit back to eight. The Knights then tacked on two final goals in the closing minutes to clinch their second straight title.
 
Thompson finished with 18 saves. Sophomore faceoff specialist Drew Costello (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg Free Academy) won 13 of his attempts and collected six ground balls and sophomore defender Alex Farben-Griggs (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) caused two turnovers.
 
Andrew Tittman made five saves in the contest for Geneseo. Henselder (4g 2a), Boniello (3g, 3a) and Bollin (3g, 3a) and Atkinson (4g) led the way for the Knights.
 
Peyton Walsh closes his career as Potsdam's top goal scorer with 141. He also finishes tied for second place on the scoring list at 192 points with Hall of Famer Brian Austin '01.
 
Thompson and Owen and Peyton Walsh were named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team.
 
This season, the Bears reached the 10-win mark for the fifth time in program history, the fourth under three-time SUNYAC Coach of the Year Rick Berkman. They defeated SUNY Cortland for the first time in 25 years, ending a 32-game losing streak to the Red Dragons. Potsdam capped one of the best seasons in program history by reaching the SUNYAC Championship for the second time (2011).