ALBANY, N.Y. – After leading by one goal at halftime, the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team outscored Russell Sage 3-1 in the third quarter to take a multi-goal lead that would provide just enough cushion, as Plattsburgh won 12-9 in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore attacker Dylan Ruland (Medford, N.Y. / Patchogue Medford) led the way for Plattsburgh with five points off a career-high four goals and one assist. 
 
The Cardinals had another player with a multi-goal performance in sophomore midfielder Jamie Gipe (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C. W. Baker) who recorded his first career hat trick. First-year attacker Brayden Shattuck (Queensbury, N.Y. / Queensbury) had two assists on the day while Mike Walsh (Westchester, N.Y. / Lakeland), Ely Bruhns (Clifton Park, N.Y. / Shenendehowa), Peter Urso (Bay Shore, N.Y. / Bay Shore), and Tim Keenan (Poughquag, N.Y. / Arlington) all had one goal and one assist. Defensively, sophomore defender Fynn Whitlock (Middlebury, Vt. / Middlebury Union) led the team with three caused turnovers and added four ground balls. Senior face-off specialist Jimbo Farrelly (West Nyack, N.Y. / Clarkstown South) won a game-high 10 faceoffs out of 14 attempts.
 
For the Gators, Anthony Marrone led all players with five goals for five points while Adam Willig and Kollin Matthews both had two assists and one goal. Joe Johnson led his team with eight ground balls and Dean Sampson led his team with eight faceoff wins. 
 
Plattsburgh won the shot battle 45-39 and had a slim 25-24 shots on goal advantage and won the ground ball game 40-36. Both teams were efficient on clears, with Plattsburgh going 22 of 26 and Russell Sage 24 of 28, and both teams tied with 12 faceoff wins. Both teams scored a man-up goal as Plattsburgh went 1-3 on extra man opportunities and Russell Sage went 1-5. 
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 2-1 with the win and is back in action next Saturday, Mar. 8 when they host Plymouth State for their home opener at 1 p.m. Russell Sage falls to 0-2 with the loss and is back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 5 when they travel to Eastern Conn. St.
 
After Ruland got the scoring started in the first quarter, Aidan Jones responded 20 seconds later and knotted the game at 1 before Marrone took advantage of a Cardinal penalty for the man-up goal off the assist of Matthews at the 7:45 mark. Both teams traded goals once again before Bruhns scored an unassisted goal to end the first quarter, which tied the game at 3. 
 
The second quarter didn't see a goal until the 7:44 mark when Doan Sangare put an unassisted goal past the Cardinal goalie at the 7:44 mark that made the score 4-3 Gators. After the Gators opened the scoring, Plattsburgh scored back-to-back goals from Ruland on the extra man chance and Gipe with assists from Keenan and Walsh as the Cardinals took a 5-4 lead at halftime. 
 
The third quarter was all Plattsburgh as the Cardinals outscored the Gators 3-1 with goals from Ruland and Gipe. After Ruland opened the scoring at the 12:21 mark, Gipe tacked on another goal for the Cardinals at the 10:48 mark that made the score 6-4 Cardinals. The two teams exchanged goals to end the third quarter and made the score 7-5 after three quarters of play. 
 
The fourth quarter was even throughout, with both teams adding four goals. Plattsburgh started the quarter on a two-goal run before the Gators broke up the run with three straight goals, led by Marrone with two which made the score 10-8 Cardinals. Donald Woods (Rocky Point, N.Y. / Rocky Point) gave Plattsburgh's lead some cushion after he was able to score off an assist from Shattuck and made the score 11-8 Cardinals halfway through the final quarter. Plattsburgh's defense held the Gators to one goal for the remainder of the game before Gipe tacked on a late goal that led to a 12-9 victory for Plattsburgh. 

Sophomore goalie Cole Orehosky (Hauppauge, N.Y. / Hauppauge) made a career-high 10 saves in over 34 minutes of action to earn the win for Plattsburgh while junior goalie Jack Mulcahy (Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / Arlington) had five saves in over 25 minutes of action. Jordon Hankel recorded 13 saves in the loss for Russell Sage.