VICTOR, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (0-1) pulled to within 8-6 early in the fourth quarter before falling 11-7 to St. John Fisher (2-0) in its season opener. Senior midfielder
Nick Orsini (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) led the Bears with two goals and two assists, while senior attackman
Eric Soderquist (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) added two goals.
The Cardinals opened the contest with a 5-1 run through the first quarter and a half, but the scoring was even the rest of the way. Orsini got Potsdam on the board 8:30 into the opening quarter. Orsini and Soderquist scored back-to-back goals at 7:12 and 4:01 of the second quarter to close the gap to 5-3. Andrew Rosso netted his second with 51 seconds left in the half and Fisher led 6-3 at the break.
Sophomore midfielder
Josh Huiatt (Lisbon, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) netted his first of the season at 13:42 of the third quarter to get Potsdam within two. Just 23 seconds later the Cardinals' Chance Gates struck on the man advantage for a 7-4 lead. At 4:58, senior attackman
Lukas Baildon (Berlin, Germany/JFKS Berlin) answered with man-up goal on helper from Orsini. With just a second on the clock Gates struck again to give Fisher an 8-5 lead after 45 minutes.
Soderquist buried his second just 35 seconds into the final quarter to make it 8-6, but a 3-0 run over the next nine minutes put Fisher in command at 11-6 with 5:02 to play. Sophomore
Nick Slate (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) closed out the scoring with a man-up tally on an assist from Orsini with 4:01 left.
Potsdam junior goalie
Sean Coe (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) was impressive with 14 saves in his first career start. Cardinals goalie Justin Townsend made eight saves to earn the win.
Fisher edged the Bears in shots 36-32 and faceoffs 11-10 and the teams each picked up 23 ground balls. Potsdam was 2-for-3 on the man advantage and the Cardinals went 1-for-4. Senior
Marc Leveroni (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) won nine faceoffs for the Bears, while junior
Colby Chapman (Johnson City, N.Y./Johnson City) won three.
Potsdam is back in action on Tuesday under the lights when the Bears host SUNY Canton in their home opener at 7 p.m.
