CANTON, N.Y. – Despite drawing within one goal of No. 8 St. Lawrence University late in the second quarter to enter halftime down 5-4, the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team ended up falling, 11-6, to the Saints in non-conference play on Wednesday evening at North Country Field.
 
St. Lawrence doubled up Plattsburgh State in shots, 42-21, and went 13-for-21 on face-offs. Both teams fared well in transition, with the Cardinals going 14-for-17 on clears and the Saints going 15-for-17, and each side converted half of its extra-man opportunities. Plattsburgh State was 1-for-2 with the extra-man advantage, while St. Lawrence was 2-for-4. The Saints also finished with a 30-22 edge in ground balls.
 
Plattsburgh State drops to 6-4 overall with the loss and has a week off from competition before visiting SUNY Oneonta for a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contest on Wednesday, April 12, at 4 p.m. St. Lawrence rises to 8-1 overall with the win and next hosts Bard College in Liberty League action on Saturday, April 8, at 12 p.m.
 
The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead, as senior attackman Ryan Callahan (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) connected with sophomore attackman Jake Carroll (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) for the first goal of the game 3:44 into the contest. St. Lawrence's junior attackman Jordan Dow countered less than two minutes later before junior attackman Ryan Hubbard (Aquebogue, N.Y./Riverhead) scored with 6:22 left in the first quarter to put the Cardinals on top, 2-1.
 
St. Lawrence netted three straight tallies to kick off the second quarter, as senior defenseman Caleb Kane, senior midfielder Andrew Jarrett and senior attackman Jamie DeNicola all scored to give the Saints a 4-2 cushion. Senior midfielder Mike Gay (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) cashed in with 2:09 left in the first half before Dow capitalized on a man-up chance just 1:06 later to stake St. Lawrence to a 5-3 edge.
 
Plattsburgh State forced a turnover with 47 seconds left in the second quarter in its offensive zone and immediately called a timeout. After bleeding 33 seconds off the clock, Hubbard fired his second goal of the game past the Saint goalie with just 14 seconds before halftime. Hubbard's score cut the gap to 5-4 heading into the halftime intermission.
 
St. Lawrence pulled away in the third quarter, scoring five unanswered goals in the period while holding Plattsburgh State scoreless. After nearly half of the third period elapsed without a goal, Jarrett found the back of the cage before senior midfielder Jamie Kuppel scored on a man-up try. Jarrett scored again minutes later, while senior midfielder Connor Brimley tallied with 1:29 left in the frame. Finally, with just eight seconds left in the third quarter, Dow capped the run with a goal that gave the Saints a 10-4 cushion.
 
Hubbard scored 2:54 into the fourth quarter before senior midfielder Austin Belz (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) netted a goal on the extra-man advantage just 2:01 later. St. Lawrence's senior midfielder Jon Fairbanks retaliated less than a minute after Belz's goal, and that wound up being the final marker of the contest.
 
Hubbard finished with three goals for three points, and he now sits at 96 goals for his career. In the coming weeks, he will look to become the program's sixth student-athlete to tally 100 goals. Carroll, Belz and Gay all scored as well, while Callahan dished out an assist. Junior face-off specialist Travis Mauro (Northport, N.Y./Northport) was 4-for-9 on face-offs, while senior defenseman Joey Duckham (Poughquag, N.Y./Arlington) finished with four ground balls.
 
Jarrett led St. Lawrence with four points (three goals, one assist), while Dow tallied three points on three goals. Senior attackman Conor Healy (two assists), Kuppel (one goal, one assist) and Fairbanks (one goal, one assist) all finished with two points for the Saints, while DeNicola (one goal), Kane (one goal), Brimley (one goal) and junior long-stick midfielder Sam Boehle (one assist) rounded out St. Lawrence's point-getters. Brigham took every face-off for the Saints and went 13-for-21 at the X, while Kane scooped up eight ground balls and caused three turnovers.
 
Junior goalie Austin Graham (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) turned aside 12 shots in the loss for Plattsburgh State, while his counterpart, freshman goalie Alex Terry, made four saves in the win for St. Lawrence.