PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – After a close first half, the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team turned it up offensively in the second half outscoring Canton 13-3 which led to a dominant 21-8 victory over the Kangaroos in a non-conference matchup. The Cardinals had five players with multi-goal games led by senior midfielder Cam Morin (Raynham, Mass.) and senior attacker John Eiseman (Farmingville, N.Y. / Sachem East) who both scored four goals and picked up an assist, totaling five points. Morin's four goals were a new career-high for the senior midfielder.
Donald Woods (Rocky Point, N.Y. / Rocky Point) led the team in total points with seven coming from four assists and three goals. Logan Jones (Bayport, N.Y. / Bayport-Blue Point) put in three as well while Tim Keenan (Poughquag, N.Y. / Arlington) had two goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Spencer Fucheck (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. / Crotom Harmon) scored his first collegiate goal. First-year defender Fynn Whitlock (Middlebury, Vt. / Middlebury Union) led all players with eight ground balls to go with his lone assist on the evening. Jimbo Farrelly (West Nyack, N.Y. / Clarkstown South) tied for a game-high nine faceoff wins and also scored his first collegiate goal.
For the Kangaroos, Austin Mesler scored six of the team's eight goals. Caden Goodnough and Michael Newcomb picked up the two lone goals.
Plattsburgh dominated the shot battle 65-23 and the ground ball game 54-36. The Cardinals went 21-26 on clears while the Kangaroos were 19-33. The Cardinals had a slight edge in faceoff wins with 17 compared to the Kangaroos 14. The Cardinals were solid on extra man-up opportunities going 5-12 while the Kangaroos only went 1-7.
Plattsburgh rises to 2-1 with the win and next hosts Russell Sage on Friday, March 1 at 4 pm. Canton falls to 0-1 with the loss and next hosts VTSU Castleton on Thursday, March 14 at 4 pm.
The scoring got started early in this one with Mesler putting one in the net off a Goodnough assist within the first 15 seconds of the game. Newcomb put another one in before the Cardinals responded with back-to-back goals at the 8:22 and 7:50 mark from Morin and Woods with the later goal being assisted by Keenan that made the score even at 2. Both teams exchanged goals with Mesler and Woods both scoring their second goals of the evening as they made the score 3 all after one.
Eiseman opened the second with back-to-back goals nearly three minutes into the quarter. Mesler stopped the run with a goal off an Alex Jacobs pass at the 11:10 mark but the Cardinals continued to add on going on a three-goal run with goals from Anthony Faber (Farmingdale, N.Y. / Farmingdale), Morin, and Jones assisted by Woods, an unassisted goal, and the last goal being assisted by Woods again that made the score 8-4 Cardinals with less than five minutes remaining in the quarter. Mesler cashed in on an extra man-up opportunity and scored the last goal of the second at the 1:38 mark as the Cardinals went into halftime up 8-5.
The third quarter didn't see a goal until five minutes into the period when Woods put one in off a Keenan pass. The Cardinals scored back-to-back goals followed by back-to-back goals from the Kangaroos that made the score 12-7 Cardinals. The Cardinals cashed in on an extra man-up opportunity when Eiseman dished it off to Keenan who put it into the back of the net for the final goal of the third period at the 1:06 mark that made the score 13-7 Cardinals.
The fourth quarter saw the Cardinals outscore the Kangaroos 8-1. The Cardinals opened the quarter with three straight goals from Jones, Kyle Ruland (Medford, N.Y. / Patchogue-Medford), and Jones again that made the score 16-8. Mesler broke up the Cardinals' three-goal run but that was the final goal scored by the Kangaroos as the Cardinals scored the last five goals of the game with two coming from Morin, and goals from Farrelly, Fucheck, and Ely Bruhns (Clifton Park, N.Y. / Shenendehowa) en route to their 21-8 victory.
Senior goalie Dan Clements (Putnam Valley, N.Y. / Putnam Valley) had six saves in the win for Plattsburgh while sophomore goalie Hayden Todd had 19 saves in the loss for Canton.
