The Plattsburgh State lacrosse team traveled to Potsdam Wednesday for a showdown against its North Country foe.
The Cardinals (5-6, 1-1 SUNYAC) tallied their first conference win of the season, defeating the Bears 10-8.
PSUC hopes this win can lead to some momentum in the SUNYAC, after dropping their first SUNYAC matchup of the season last Saturday.
In a hard-fought game, the Cardinals fell short to the Brockport Golden Eagles 11-10, but PSUC head coach Joe May said the team did play well, yet he wants to see a complete game from his team.
“We really executed well, and some guys rose to the occasion,” May said. “We have lost more games than I would have liked to, but they have all been really close. We have to finish games off, and we haven’t done that this year.”
The Cards displayed a great effort as they started the game slow and trailed Brockport 6-3 at the end of the first half. PSUC then scored four unanswered goals to tie the game and eventually take the lead in the third period 7-6. It was back and forth scoring all throughout the fourth quarter and the game was again tied, but with five seconds left in the game, Brockport scored and won the match.
May said the team had problems finishing the fourth quarter and clearing the ball, which proved to be the turning point in the game.
“We couldn’t get our offense the ball, and we had a hard time winning face-offs and clearing the ball,” May said. “We had some defense and execution errors, and Brockport played well. It was a game we should have won, not taking anything away from Brockport though because they had a great game plan against us.”
Senior attackman and midfielder Brendan Damm said the team will tighten up their skill sets in upcoming practices.
“This is one of the best years in the SUNYAC,” Damm said. “I think we need to own the middle of the field. We are solid on both ends, but on clearing and transition, we are just really trying to push the tempo of the game and score on unset situations, rather than just depending on six-on-six lacrosse.”
For their next matchup, the Cards will travel to Geneseo as they play the Knights tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.
Damm said the team has to play lacrosse from beginning to end.
“We just need to play a full 60 minutes of lacrosse,” Damm said. “We have to try to get the first couple goals in the game, and we cannot let the other team go on runs. We have pretty much been down every game we lost, so if we can have the lead, then the ball is in our court, and we can play our style instead of having to chase and try to come back.”
Senior defenseman Sean Murphy said the team is primed for its next game.
“We have been learning each and every game,” Murphy said. “We are very motivated, and we prepared even harder for this game. We watched a lot more film on these guys, and we studied their offense and their defense. We know their every move to a tee.”
Email Adonys Temple at adonys.temple@cardinalpointsonline.com
