Potsdam, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz lost its regular season finale Saturday on the road to Potsdam, 18-7.
 
The defeat concluded the Hawks' season at 6-10 overall and 3-4 in the SUNYAC with the Bears claiming the final spot in the SUNYAC playoffs with the victory, as they improved to 8-6 and 4-3, respectively.
 
Potsdam opened the game with three straight goals until James Flanagan cut into the deficit with the first score for the Hawks with less than two minutes to play. Brandon Ortiz helped clear the ball following a turnover on the offensive end by the Bears, leading to an unassisted goal from Flanagan.
 
Noah Reed forced a turnover off the ensuing faceoff, picking up the ground ball and allowing SUNY New Paltz to run a set on the offensive end. The result was an Ethan Scully goal off an assist from Blake Lyons to cut the score to 3-2 with about a minute left. The Bears answered with back-to-back goals though following consecutive faceoff wins to create a 5-2 advantage entering the second.
 
The Hawks had trouble finding the back of the net in the second and third quarters, accounting for just two goals off 17 shot attempts. Potsdam scored to start the second period off a faceoff win, but Nick Darcangelo matched the goal with one of his own, following a save on the defensive end by Zach Novak.  
The Bears answered with four straight goals to end the half to hold onto a 10-3 advantage at the break. Potsdam scored two more until Darcangelo broke the unanswered streak following a caused turnover by Quinn Tucker and clear after a ground ball pick up by Sean Cassidy.
 
However, the Hawks couldn't match the Bears output offensively, as Michael Plante scored off an assist by Finn Smith to trim the lead to 14-5 to get the closest in the final quarter. Darcangelo scored his last with seven minutes left to bring the deficit down to 17-6 before Plante capped SUNY New Paltz offensively with the game's final goal in the last 30 seconds off an assist from Smith to solidify the 18-7 outcome.
 
Potsdam held the advantage in shots, 57-36, including 34-20 in shots on goal. The Bears also picked up more ground balls (51-30) and was better at the faceoff X (22-7).
 
Darcangelo led the Hawks with three goals, followed by Scully, Smith and Plante who each finished with two points. Cassidy led the team with six ground balls while adding a caused turnover, while Yasin Tabatabaee tallied a team-high three caused turnovers.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns the bulk of its roster next season including seven freshman who started at least 10 of 17 games, including four more who appeared in 11 or more contests this past season, but will graduate three key seniors in Scully, Flanagan and leading point-getter Anthony Senecal.


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