Box Score CANTON, N.Y. – The No. 16 Plattsburgh State men’s lacrosse team took the first lead in a non-conference game at St. Lawrence but had to play catch-up the rest of the way in an 11-8 loss against the Saints on a chilly Wednesday night at Hall-Leet Stadium.
The Cardinals opened the scoring at the 9:22 mark of the first quarter with an unassisted tally by Brendan Damm but the Saints rattled off four straight in a 3:49 span to take a 4-1 lead. Displaying a bit of resiliency, Plattsburgh State’s Anthony Pafundi and Brett McClelland scored late in the first to bring the Cardinals within one after the first 15 minutes.
St. Lawrence’s Justin Ingram made it 5-3 in favor of the Saints at 11:52 of the second before back-to-back goals from Nick Travers and McClelland tied it at 5-5. The two sides exchanged goals one more time before the Saints to the lead for good on Jeremy Vautour’s third of the game with nine seconds left in the first half.
Penalties started to plague the Cardinals in the second quarter, causing Plattsburgh State to finish with 12 on the evening – eight of which came in the second half. The Saints capitalized on consecutive extra-man opportunities to start the third quarter, extending their lead to 9-6.
Travers and Tim Lawrence answered back to come within one again, but that is as close as the Cardinals would come as St. Lawrence scored twice in the fourth to reach the 11-8 final.
McClelland contributed two goals and an assist for Plattsburgh State while Travers added a pair of goals and nine ground balls. Lawrence and Damm each tallied two points in the loss.
Vautour led the Saints to the victory with four goals and an assists. Ingram finished with a goal and two helpers.
The Saints outshot the Cardinals, 37-29, and held a 37-17 advantage in ground balls. St. Lawrence went 2 for 9 on extra-man opportunities while Plattsburgh State went 0 for 5.
Gordie Gehring recorded nine saves in the loss for the Cardinals. Saints’ goalkeeper Jack Nuland made six stops to earn the win.
With the non-conference portion of the schedule complete, the Cardinals will look to snap their two-game skid on Saturday afternoon in a State University of New York Athletic Conference matchup at Oswego. Game time is 1 p.m.
