It was another full schedule this week for the Bears' lacrosse, and softball teams.
Women's Lacrosse
The SUNY Potsdam women's lacrosse team got a game-winning goal from junior captain Whitney Boshart to defeat Utica College 8-7 in overtime. The Bears got three goals from freshman midfielder Margaret Wall and senior goalie Kaci Milligan made eight saves. Senior midfielder Katlyn Banker gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead just 4:12 into the contest. Utica would hold the lead until the last two minutes of regulation. Senior attack Maria Santucci doubled the advantage with a free position marker at 16:19. Junior attack Denise Johns got Potsdam on the board 10 minutes later. Next, the Pioneers struck twice in 24 seconds as freshman defender Patricia Kane and Banker scored in succession to give Utica a 4-1 lead at 2:15 of the first half. Senior attack Maribeth Simmons got the Bears to within 4-2 with a goal at the 1:37 mark. Wall made it 4-3 with her first of the contest just 2:50 into the final half, but the Pioneers answered with two straight to regain their three-goal advantage. Sophomore attack Janet Campo scored at 23:32 and Banker notched her third at 17:17. Wall connected with Boshart for her second tally at 12:57, but Santucci made it a 7-4 Utica lead with 11:57 remaining. Then the Bears offense shifted into gear. Simmons set up senior captain Sierra Langkammerer at 5:16. Wall buried her third exactly a minute later. With the score 7-6, the Pioneers called a timeout in an attempt to break Potsdam's momentum. It didn't work. With two minutes left, Langkammerer harassed Utica senior goalie Shelby Barbay into throwing a pass out of bounds. On the ensuing Bears' possession, Johns worked her way around the right side of the net and fired the ball past Barbay to tie the score at 7-7 with 1:13 remaining. The Pioneers grabbed the final draw control of regulation and controlled the play until time expired. Utica fired three shots on Milligan in the last minute, including a free position by freshman midfielder Megan Kane with 29 seconds on the clock, but Milligan caught each one. In the first half of the six-minute non-sudden victory overtime period, the Pioneers controlled the ball for 2:45, but never got a shot away. Wall captured the draw control to start the final three minutes and passed to Langkammerer who charged toward the Utica goal. Right before the crease she fired a pass to Boshart who beat Barbay to her left for the eventual game-winner with 2:31 left. The teams traded turnovers in the final minutes, but the Pioneers never threatened again.
Men's Lacrosse
The second-ranked SUNY Cortland Red Dragons rode a big first half lead to a 16-8 victory over the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon. Senior attackman Mike Tota had a big day for Cortland with seven goals and two assists and fellow Red Dragon senior Greg Wright contributed three goals and three assists. Senior attackman Peter Pike scored two goals in his final game as a Bear, as did sophomore attackman Rob Kunz. Cortland raced out to a 5-0 lead in the opening six and a half minutes. Tota had a goal and an assist in the barrage. Junior midfielder Pat Morrill got Potsdam on the board with an assist from sophomore midfielder Jared Flath at the 2:48 mark. Tota notched his second at 1:04 and the Red Dragons led 6-1 after one quarter. Freshman midfielder Dave Kunz won the opening faceoff of the second period, raced down field and set up Pike to make it 6-2 just five seconds in. Cortland closed the first half with an offensive show. The Red Dragons got seven in a row, including five from Tota. Three of the seven markers were man-up tallies. Freshman midfielder Mike Cantelli capped the run with a goal with 41 seconds on the clock. The Red Dragons took a 13-2 advantage into the break. Pike buried a pass from Rob Kunz at the 9:47 and Kunz notched his own at 6:36 to cut the gap to 13-4. The Red Dragons answered just over four minutes later as Wright and Tota hooked up for the only Cortland score of the third quarter. Potsdam finally got some momentum late in the quarter, starting a 4-0 run of its own on a goal from junior attackman Kyle Nicholas at 1:28. Kunz, sophomore midfielder Matt Donovan and freshman midfielder Dylan DiFante scored in succession to get the Bears to within 14-8 with 4:55 remaining. DiFante's goal was the first of his career. The Red Dragons tacked on the final two markers of the contest to seal the 16-8 win.
Softball
In their final SUNYAC doubleheader of the season, the SUNY Potsdam Softball team was swept by Plattsburgh St. 8-0 and 13-0 with both games going five innings. The Cardinals proved why they are near the top of the conference standings and why they currently sit just outside of the top 25 in the nation with two impressive performances against the Bears. In the opener, Plattsburgh used a four run second inning to gain control of the game. The first three runners reached base safely to start the inning and Megan Price hit a home run as the Cardinals pulled away. Plattsburgh would score in each of the next three innings, including two in the bottom of the fifth to end it. Sophomore Ashley Thayer took the loss on the mound but sophomore Molly Zehler got the last five outs without allowing an earned run. Heater Loughran held the Bears to just two hits in the contest. In the second game, saw Plattsburgh jump out to a 3-0 lead through two innings before breaking out for eight runs in the bottom of the third. Potsdam was again held to just two hits, one from junior Heather Johnson and the other off the bat of freshman Carissa Cornwell. Ashley Marshall improved to 17-3 on the mound and struck out 13 batters while senior Brittany Pawlowski took the loss.
Performers of the Week
Senior Peter Pike is the Bears Male Performer of the Week. Pike led the team with two goals in Potsdam's final contest of the season, a 16-8 defeat at home against Cortland. Pike wrapped up an impressive campaign as he finished third on the team with 28 points and led the team with 22 goals scored.
Senior Kaci Milligan is the Bears Female Performer of the Week. By stopping eight shots in the Bears 8-7 overtime victory against Utica College, Milligan became Potsdam's all-time saves leader in the final game of her career.
Weekly Preview
The softball team (11-23, 2-16 SUNYAC) closes out the regular season with two rescheduled doubleheaders on the road. The Bears take on St. Lawrence on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., and SUNY Canton on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
