NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team put itself back in the win column on Friday afternoon, defeating SUNY New Paltz, 15-7, in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action at the South Turf Field.
 
Sophomore midfielder Amos Grimm (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) and junior attackman Dilon Smith (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) notched six points apiece, with Grimm scoring four goals and adding two assists and Smith recording three goals and three assists. Senior midfielder Stephen Kane (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) picked up three points on two goals and an assist, while senior attackman Connor Wolff (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) and first-year attackman Brian Pohoreckyj (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) each scored twice. Junior midfielder Zach Gill (Miller Place, N.Y./Rocky Point) registered two points on a goal and an assist, while senior short-stick defensive midfielder Tanner Tobias (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) scored his first collegiate goal.
 
Defensively, sophomore long-stick midfielder Julian Pigliavento (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) caused four turnovers, while first-year midfielder Logan Jones (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) aided the Cardinals in the possession game with eight ground balls. Junior face-off specialist Daniel Umbro (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) dominated at the 'X,' going 15-for-17 on face-offs.
 
The Cardinals finished with the upper hand in shots (56-36) and ground balls (39-17) while going 20-for-25 on face-offs and converting their lone extra-man opportunity of the contest. Both teams fared well on clears, with Plattsburgh State going 17-for-18 and New Paltz going 12-for-12. The Hawks were 1-for-4 with the extra-man advantage.
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 2-5 overall (2-3 SUNYAC) with the win and closes out its season on Friday, April 30, when it hosts SUNY Potsdam at 4 p.m. New Paltz falls to 0-6 overall (0-5 SUNYAC) with the loss and wraps up its 2021 campaign on Friday, April 30, when it entertains SUNY Oneonta at 4 p.m.
 
New Paltz's sophomore midfielder Aidan Gregory scored on a pass from sophomore attackman Thomas Armetta 1:39 into the game to break the ice, but Plattsburgh State relied on a nine-goal surge to close out the first half. Kane found the back of the net on a pass from Grimm to tie the game, while Gill put the Cardinals up, 2-1, midway through the first quarter. Pohoreckyj scored twice to pin Plattsburgh State to a 4-1 lead through 15 minutes of play, with Grimm earning an assist on his first tally.
 
Kane added to the lead 1:13 into the second stanza and provided the assist to a Grimm marker that gave the Cardinals a 6-1 edge. Smith tallied back-to-back goals midway through the second quarter, while Wolff's score that came on a Smith assist gave Plattsburgh State a 9-1 cushion at the half.
 
New Paltz broke up the run when sophomore midfielder Zach Schmidt converted a feed from sophomore midfielder Aiden Jones 1:46 into the third quarter, but the Cardinals answered back with a man-up goal from Grimm (Gill assist) and an unassisted marker from Smith. Jones connected with sophomore attackman Ryan Scully to trim the gap to 11-3, while Grimm scored with 21 seconds left in the third to put Plattsburgh State out in front by a 12-3 margin.
 
Armetta rattled the back of the net for the Hawks with a man-up score 2:08 into the fourth quarter before Wolff countered 1:06 later. Tobias, a short-stick defensive midfielder during his career as a Cardinal, buried his first collegiate goal with 10:30 left in regulation, relying on a pass from Smith. New Paltz received goals from Armetta (Scully assist) and Scully to pull within 14-6, but Smith connected with Grimm for a goal just more than a minute later. Schmidt's goal on a Scully assist with 3:24 remaining provided the final score of 15-7.
 
Scully paced New Paltz with four points on two goals and two assists, while Armetta registered three points on two goals and an assist.
 
Junior goalie Christian Bassi (Windham, N.H./Kimball Union Academy) earned the win in net for the Cardinals, making nine stops against three goals allowed in 39:03 of work. Sophomore goalie Killian Shea-Smith (St. Albans, Vt./Tilton School [N.H.]) and first-year goalie Dan Clements (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) made five and three saves, respectively, during the second half. New Paltz's sophomore goalie Nate Lindsey and freshman goalie Ryan Steinhart posted 11 and eight saves, respectively, in the loss.