POTSDAM, N.Y.—In the snow, sleet and freezing rain, the SUNY Oneonta men's lacrosse team came up just shy of SUNY Potsdam, 12-11, in a SUNYAC conference match-up at Potsdam today.  After the game was completed, both teams have identical 4-7 records overall while also holding the same 1-2 record in conference play.
 
Junior Stephen Panno (Holtsville/Sachem East) paced the Red Dragons with five goals and one assist.  Senior Hunter DeLuca (Medford/Patchogue Medford) added three goals and two assists and junior Thomas McRae (Northport/Northport) contributed a pair of goals and two assists.
 
The Bears opened fast with the game's first three goals in the opening 5:26. Junior midfielder Ryan Waldron set up Josh Huiatt just 1:01 into the game. Nick Orsini made it 2-0 at 12:15 with an assist from Huiatt and sophomore midfielder Nick Slate closed the run at 9:34 with his 14th of the season.
 
Red Dragon senior midfielder TJ Kilmetis (Hicksville/Hicksville) and DeLuca scored in succession at 7:19 and 5:04 and Oneonta trailed 3-2 after one.
 
Orsini started a 4-0 Potsdam run at 13:08 of the second quarter with an assist from Huiatt. Eric Soderquist fed Huiatt at 12:30. Waldron and Orsini scored at 11:10 and 9:03 to make it a 7-2 contest.
 
The Red Dragons scored two of the next three goals, as McRae struck at 6:08, but Orsini countered at 2:34. Panno found the back of the net at 1:06 and Oneonta was down 8-4 at the break.
 
DeLuca opened the scoring in the third quarter, which was followed by a man-up marker from each team. Orsini rifled home a pass from Huiatt at 11:40 and Panno made the most of the extra-man opportunity at 9:22 to close the gap to 9-6. Soderquist scored a man-up goal at 1:40 on an assist from Huiatt, before returning the favor to beat the buzzer with less than a second left. Potsdam led 11-6 after 45 minutes.
 
The Red Dragons put a scare into the Bears in the fourth, outscoring them 5-1. Panno scored the first two goals of the fourth at 9:40 and 8:07 before DeLuca completed his hat trick at 3:52 to make it 11-9.
 
With 3:12 left, senior attackman Lukas Baildon scored the eventual game-winner with an assist from Soderquist. The goal appeared to just about put Oneonta away, but the Red Dragons had a final flurry with McRae making it 12-10 at 1:26 and Panno scoring with 26 seconds left.
 
Despite a late turnover, Potsdam was able to isolate DeLuca and prevent him from getting a final shot away as time expired. Zach Sheridan was key for Potsdam in the final quarter, making big stop after big stop in the last minutes.  He finished the game with 13 saves.
 
Sophomore goalie Zachary Flynn (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) made six saves for the Red Dragons.
 
Oneonta edged the Bears in shots 36-35, buts Potsdam finished with a 36-34 advantage in ground balls. Senior Marc Leveroni won 16 of the contest's 24 faceoffs.
 
Oneonta won't be back in action until next Saturday when they host SUNYAC foe Oswego beginning at 2:30pm.