Potsdam, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team (2-9 overall, 0-4 SUNYAC)  fell 12-8 to SUNY Potsdam (4-6, 1-3) in their fourth conference game of the season on the road Saturday.
 
Freshman attacker James Flannagan got the Hawks on the scoreboard just a few minutes into the first quarter with Potsdam matching the goal and putting in a second just after.
 
After minutes passing with no additional goals, junior midfielder Aidan Gregory found a ground ball after Potsdam's failed clear attempt. Gaining control, he made a quick pass to sophomore midfielder Elias Elcock who found the back of the net with a hard shot past the Bears keeper. Potsdam did almost the same thing a few minutes later, scoring its third of the game with just 15 seconds left in the first quarter giving them a 3-2 lead. 
 
"For us, we were very careless with the ball. Potsdam started to settle into the game. From there, there was a shift in the game," said SUNY New Paltz coach Dwayne Stewart. 
 
SUNY New Paltz struggled on attack during the second quarter with a game low of two shots. The Bears took advantage of the Hawks being down and scored two goals late in the quarter to up their lead 5-2 just before the half. Sophomore goalie Ryan Steinhart made a game high of six saves to hold Potsdam to just two goals after enduring 11 shots. 
"A mentality shift happened late in the game. We began to focus on the little things and that's when we were able to connect on a lot of plays that did go our way [in] the second and third quarter," said Stewart. 
 
The Bears had a strong third quarter with a game high of five goals. The Hawks made a steady improvement from the second quarter upping their shots to eight and tallying another goal by freshman midfielder Anthony Senecal.
 
"When the athletes worked at our pace and handled the ball, it worked," Stewart said. "We had many scorers because of that. The goal is to continue to build up our young offensive core of athletes."
 
SUNY New Paltz hustled in the final quarter to close the gap scoring five goals. Their run caused them to have just a three-goal difference before the Bears put in their final of the day. 
 
The Hawks had six different players participate in scoring that final quarter, including Elcock and Senecal who both cashed in a second goal for the game. Gregory scored two goals of his own, sophomore attacker John Reese assisted three of the five goals and freshman midfielder Ethan Scully closed out scoring for the Hawks. The final score ended at the Bears advantage, 12-8. 
 
"We need to continue to work on building good habits," Stewart said. "We need to be consistent throughout an entire game and not a quarter or two." 
The Hawks have a break before their next game Saturday at Cortland where they take on the Red Dragons for the first time in program history at 3:30 p.m.

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