The Plattsburgh State lacrosse team hosted the Middlebury Panthers Tuesday night, looking to push their winning streak to four games.
Although the streak was snapped, losing 10-8 to the Panthers, the Cardinals (3-3) played a great game.
Senior defenseman Sean Murphy said the team needed to be ready to play coming into this game.
“We have to limit our mistakes and play Plattsburgh lacrosse,” Murphy said. “We can’t play anyone else’s style but our own.”
Sophomore midfielder Peter Ciacelli said the team had been mentally preparing for this game.
“The one thing that was on our mind for the past week and a half was the Middlebury game,” Ciacelli said. “We looked at that game as one of the most important games of the year.”
The Cards came in confident and did not stop battling, making a comeback midway through the fourth quarter to even up the score at eight a piece. Middlebury then scored two more goals late in the fourth period to secure the win.
PSUC head coach Joe May said the team played hard throughout the game.
“That was some of the best lacrosse we played all year. Middlebury is a very talented team and has had a good program for years,” May said. “Overall, I was proud of how the team competed. They gave it everything they had. They were resilient, and we are not overly disappointed. This makes us better in the long run, and we took a big step forward.”
Ciacelli said although the team was defeated, they are still looking at the positives.
“We competed against a top-ten team, and we played a game that we could have won in the end,” Ciacelli said. “If we can compete with a team on that level, that boosts our potential and gets us ready for conference play.”
Overall, it was great showing by the Cards as they played smart on both ends of the field and executed their game plan.
May said PSUC’s comeback stemmed from the team working as one.
“We played unselfishly on offense,” May said. “The guys were looking to get their teammates open, not score goals themselves, and get their teammates goals. We were taking care of the ball, not committing a lot of turnovers, following our game plan and not getting frustrated when we were not getting the looks we wanted.”
The Cards are confident to bounce back from this loss and concentrate on their next game.
“We will focus on things we did not do well in our last game against Middlebury,” May said. “We are going to focus on ourselves and then spend two solid days prepping for a good MIT squad.”
PSUC will look to get a win on the road as they take on MIT this Saturday, and knows it cannot dwell on its latest loss.
“We have to put what is in the past behind us and start preparing for MIT this Saturday,” Ciacelli said.
Email Adonys Temple at adonys.temple@cardinalpointsonline.com
