PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team fell to Cortland 26-7 in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Saturday at home. Sophomore Peter Urso (Bay Shore, N.Y. / Bay Shore) led the way for Plattsburgh with three points on two goals and an assist and scooped up two ground balls as well.

Sophomore Dylan Ruland (Medford, N.Y. / Patchogue-Medford) had a multi-goal performance as well, tacking on two goals to go with a ground ball and a caused turnover. Other goals for the Cardinals came from Donald Woods (Rocky Point, N.Y. / Rocky Point), Ely Bruhns (Clifton Park, N.Y. / Shenendehowa), and Ethan Francey (Canton, N.Y. / Canton), who all recorded one goal on the day. Senior Jimbo Farrelly (West Nyack, N.Y. / Clarkstown South) led all players in faceoff wins with 18 and picked up a team-high 10 ground balls, while senior Kyle Ruland (Medford, N.Y. / Patchogue-Medford) was next in ground balls with four.

For the Red Dragons, Sam Rothman led the team in points with a game-high eight, while Rothman, Sean Kavanagh, and Liam Burns all notched a game-high four goals. Rothman led the team in assists with four, and Michael Avgenikos led the team in faceoff wins with seven.

Cortland outshot Plattsburgh 57-42, recording 35 shots on goal while Plattsburgh had 21 shots on goal. The Red Dragons had the slight edge in ground balls, 38-36, but the Cardinals won the faceoff battle 22-15. Both teams went 1-4 on extra man opportunities and on clears, Plattsburgh was 13-20 while Cortland was 18-21.  

Plattsburgh State falls to 4-5 (0-2 SUNYAC) and is back in action on Wednesday, Apr. 9, when they host Canton for a 4 p.m. opening faceoff. Cortland rises to 9-2 (2-0 SUNYAC) and next hosts New Paltz on Wednesday, Apr. 9, for a 4 p.m. start time.

The Cardinals opened the scoring as D. Ruland tacked on a goal off the pass from Urso a little over a minute into the game. However, Cortland scored the next five goals and took a 5-1 lead at the 6:27 mark. A Cortland penalty led to a man-up goal from Woods off the assist from Jamie Gipe (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C. W. Baker) at the 4:33 mark and made the score 5-2 Red Dragons. Matt Franzoni and Urso exchanged goals, followed by another Cortland goal as the Red Dragons led 7-3 after one quarter of play.

 The second quarter began with five straight goals from Cortland as the Red Dragons extended their lead to 12-3 with less than seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Plattsburgh countered with back-to-back unassisted goals from Urso and Francey, but Cortland ended the second on a two-goal run and took a 14-5 lead into halftime.

Plattsburgh ended a five-goal Cortland run to start the third quarter as Ruland notched his second goal of the game off the pass of Brayden Shattuck (Queensbury, N.Y. / Queensbury) before a late goal from Cortland pushed their lead to 20-6.

The fourth quarter saw the Cardinals open the scoring with an unassisted tally from Bruhns before being outscored 6-0 the rest of the way and ultimately falling 26-7.

Sophomore Cole Orehosky (Hauppauge, N.Y. / Hauppauge) made five saves in over 19 minutes of action, taking the loss in net for Plattsburgh. Junior Jack Mulcahy (Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / Arlington) made three saves in over 25 minutes of action while sophomore Zachary Nacheman (Saratoga Springs, N.Y. / Saratoga Springs) and first-year Gavin McQueeney (Wading River, N.Y. / Shoreham Wading River) both saw some time in net for Plattsburgh. Travis Wagner made 10 saves in the win for Cortland in 45 minutes of action, and Charlie Falowski made four saves in over 11 minutes of action while Jack Lucidi also saw some time in net for the Red Dragons.