SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Six days after the Potsdam and Oneonta women's lacrosse teams ushered in the first State University of New York Athletic Conference league games in any sport in more than a year, the same two institutions rekindled men's lacrosse in the SUNYAC on Friday, March 26, back in Oneonta, N.Y.
The Red Dragons defeated the Bears 8-6 in a SUNYAC East division matchup that signaled a new look in the conference for the 2020-21 season.
That new look also includes an eighth team in the SUNYAC as the New Paltz men's lacrosse program makes its delayed debut this season. The Hawks were slated to begin SUNYAC play in 2020 but will kick off their inaugural conference season on Monday, March 29, at Plattsburgh (4 p.m.).
"Extremely excited to show our new program in the SUNYAC," New Paltz junior middie Jozef Harvan (Shrub Oak, NY/Lakeland) said.
"It's very beneficial to our mental health as well as in the classroom to be able to go out and play lacrosse with the boys everyday which is why it is really exciting to be able to play again this year," added sophomore attack Ryan Scully (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore).
The eight-team SUNYAC will split into two divisions this season that features a six-game, double round-robin divisional schedule. Some institutions may schedule non-conference crossover matches that will not count in the league standings.
The East includes New Paltz, Oneonta, Plattsburgh and Potsdam, while the West consists of Brockport, Cortland, Geneseo and Oswego.
The post-season will feature the top two teams in each division with the number one seeds hosting the number two seeds from the opposite division on Tuesday, May 4, in the SUNYAC Semifinals.
The Championship will be on Friday, May 7, at the highest remaining seed. If the seeds are equal then the West will host the Championship based on a five-year formula of past conference champions that gives the division a 4-1 edge.
The SUNYAC has built-in additional tiebreakers, as well as plans to address scenarios where teams have played an inequitable number of games.
Unfortunately, there are no spectators at SUNYAC contests this spring as visitors are not permitted on campuses; however, all men's lacrosse games are being streamed live by conference member institutions.
