Box Score CORTLAND, N.Y. – A valiant effort by the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team came up just short as Cortland's Matt Rakoczy scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 4:44 remaining as the nationally-ranked No. 8 Cortland Red Dragons rallied to defeat the Cardinals, 11-10, in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup Saturday afternoon at the Stadium Complex.
 
With the loss, Plattsburgh State drops to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while Cortland improves to 8-3 on the year and 2-0 in league play.

Sophomore Brendan Damm led Plattsburgh State's offense with five goals – marking the second straight game and third time this season he has accomplished that feat. Junior Jack Felter scored twice, senior Tim Lawrence had one goal and two assists while senior Tom Duggan and junior James Read netted one goal apiece. Senior Robbie Ashlaw and sophomore Matt Renko each contributed two assists for the Cardinals. Freshman Joe Eiseman won 12-of-17 faceoffs, Lawrence recorded five ground balls and senior Charlie Dullea caused five turnovers.
 
Rakoczy finished with three goals and sophomore Zach Hopps tallied three goals and one assist for the Red Dragons while senior Joe Slavik netted a pair of goals. Junior Benjamin Dunlavey had one goal and one assist, senior Mike Cummings and junior Billy Davis each scored once. Junior Mike Cantelli recorded a game-high five assists. Davis won 4-of-6 faceoffs, seniors Stephen Burke and Fred Mase collected four ground balls each. Junior Patrick Brown lead Cortland with three caused turnovers.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than three minutes into the game as Duggan opened the scoring at 14:16 and Damm netted back-to-back goals at 13:29 and 12:08. Slavik's man-up goal at 3:26 put Cortland on the scoreboard before Dunlavey made it a 3-2 game at the 1:08 mark. Plattsburgh pushed its lead to 8-3 late in the first half by scoring five of the first goals of the second quarter. Felter scored at 14:01, and Lawrence followed with his goal at 11:50. Rakoczy buried a man-up goal for Cortland and the Cardinals led 5-3 at the 8:01 mark. Plattsburgh answered with three goals in a four-minute span, one each from Damm, Read and Felter, and the Cardinals led 8-3 with 3:43 left before the half. The Red Dragons responded with a three-goal run to close the quarter. Cummings scored at 1:57, and Cantelli set up a pair of goals by Hopps at 1:31 and five seconds before the break to make it an 8-6 game.

Damm and Rakoczy traded goals in the third quarter, and Plattsburgh owned a 9-7 advantage heading to the final 15 minutes of play. Slavik scored at 13:38 to pull Cortland within 9-8, and Davis tied the score just 16 seconds later with his first goal of the season. Damm gave the Cardinals back the lead with his fifth of the game at 12:48, but Hopps netted his third goal at 6:15 to tie the score at 10-all. Cortland won the ensuing faceoff and Cantelli eventually found Rakoczy, who gave Cortland its first lead of the game with a shot from 15 yards out at the 4:44 mark.

After Plattsburgh won the faceoff, Cortland forced a turnover with just over three minutes remaining to set up a flurry of events that led to a tense finish. On Cortland's clear attempt, the Cardinals took a two-minute non-releasable penalty and a one-minute non-releasable penalty with 2:56 to go. The Red Dragons held possession for more than two minutes, eventually calling their second timeout of the quarter with 40 seconds on the clock. While Cortland attempted to burn the final seconds, Dullea caused a turnover and collected the ground ball behind Plattsburgh's cage with 28 seconds remaining. The Cardinals successfully cleared the ball and called timeout with nine seconds on the clock. Coming out of the timeout, Read had one shot to tie the game, but his low attempt from 15 yards out on the left side was denied by Tota just before the final horn.
 
Plattsburgh State's Andrew Hauk made 12 saves in the loss, including eight in the second quarter. Cortland goalie Scott Tota stopped eight shots to earn the win.

Plattsburgh State continues conference play on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as the Cardinals pay a visit to their North Country rival, SUNY Potsdam.