SUNY Potsdam's Peyton Walsh (21) turns, reverses and blasts
a riser into the mesh, drawing the Bears within a 4-3
margin. After Potsdam tied the game 4-4, Clarkson went
on a 5-1 run to beat the Bears 9-5. (Bob LaRue photo)
05/04/24: A fast start and a strong
finish lifted second-seeded SUNY Geneseo (13-6) over the
fourth-seeded SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (10-6) 20-10
in the 2024 SUNYAC Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Graduate student attackman Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa,
N.Y./Ballston Spa) scored three goals. Junior
midfielder Owen Walsh (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) had
two goals and an assist. Junior midfielder Ryan
Hughes (Corning, N.Y./Corning Painted Post) also contributed
three points on a goal and two assists. Junior attackman Cobie
Cree (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) scored two goals and
junior midfielder Drew Rose (Brasher Falls, N.Y./St.
Lawrence Central) recorded two assists. Geneseo set the tone
early, winning the opening faceoff and forcing Bears
sophomore goalie Saka Thompson (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon
River) to make a save just seconds in to the game. The
Knights kept up the pace and scored seven times in the first
7:17 of the contest. Robert Boniello and Cole Bollin each
scored twice. Thompson made several big saves to keep the
contest from getting to far away. Owen Walsh finally got the
Bears on the board at 5:45 and senior captain Bryce
Tyler (Camden, Maine/Camden Hills) added another goal at
2:01. Geneseo led 7-2 after 15 minutes. The teams split the
eight goals of the second quarter. Cree scored Potsdam's
third straight with a rocket from the left side of the net
after a pass from Owen Walsh at 14:23. Geneseo answered with
the next two from Riley Henselder and Jimmy Atkinson. Rose
set up Cree at 8:36 to make it 9-4. Again, the Knights
countered with two from Boniella and BB Syrop for an 11-4
lead. Hughes scored a man-up goal at 4:36 with another
helper from Rose. Peyton Walsh added another man-up goal at
1:46 with an assist from Hughes. It was an 11-6 contest at
the break. After another Boniello goal 1:35 into the second
half, the Bears got to within on four on back-to-back,
man-up goals from Peyton Walsh. It was 12-8 at 10:10.
Unfortunately, the Knights pulled away with the final three
goals of the third. Geneseo led 15-8 after three quarters.
The Knights put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.
They struck for three goals in the first 3:04. The markers
extended the run to six and built the biggest lead of the
contest at 18-8. Owen Walsh ended the run with a goal at
9:49. Sophomore midfielder Tyler Gould (Webster,
N.Y./Webster Schroeder) followed 31 seconds later two trim
the deficit back to eight. The Knights then tacked on two
final goals in the closing minutes to clinch their second
straight title. Thompson finished with 18 saves. Sophomore
faceoff specialist Drew Costello (Ogdensburg, N.Y./OFA) won
13 of his attempts and collected six ground balls and
sophomore defender Alex Farben-Griggs (White Plains,
N.Y./White Plains) caused two turnovers. Andrew Tittman made
five saves in the contest for Geneseo. Henselder (4g 2a),
Boniello (3g, 3a) and Bollin (3g, 3a) and Atkinson (4g) led
the way for the Knights. Peyton Walsh closes his career as
Potsdam's top goal scorer with 141. He also finishes tied
for second place on the scoring list at 192 points with Hall
of Famer Brian Austin '01. Thompson and Owen and Peyton
Walsh were named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team. This
season, the Bears reached the 10-win mark for the fifth time
in program history, the fourth under three-time SUNYAC Coach
of the Year Rick Berkman. They defeated SUNY Cortland for
the first time in 25 years, ending a 32-game losing streak
to the Red Dragons. Potsdam capped one of the best seasons
in program history by reaching the SUNYAC Championship for
the second time (2011).
03/27/24: Clarkson University (5-4)
halted the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team's (6-2) six-game
winning streak with a 9-5 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Graduate student midfielder Peyton Walsh (Ballston Spa,
N.Y./Ballston Spa) and junior attackman Owen Walsh (Ballston
Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) each scored two goals for the Bears
and freshman midfielder Braden Fahey (Halfmoon,
N.Y./Shenendehowa) also had a goal. Sophomore goalie Saka
Thompson (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) had another strong
day with 10 saves. The Golden Knights jumped out to a 3-0
lead by the 8:50 mark of the first quarter. Andrew Kearney,
Matt Reilly and Sebastian Geiger each scored. At 7:11, Owen
Walsh got Potsdam on the board with an assist from
sophomore Tyler Gould (Webster, N.Y./Webster
Schroeder). Peyton Walsh closed the gap to 3-2 at the 6:00
mark. The score was unchanged after 15 minutes. Reilly
struck again at 10:57 of the second quarter, but the Bears
finally drew even. Peyton Walsh scored his second at 9:24
and Fahey knotted the score at 4-4 at 5:06. Clarkson scored
the last two of the half with goals from Geiger and Reilly
and led 6-4 at the break. Owen Walsh made it 6-5 just 1:01
into the third quarter. Again the Knights answered with two.
Joe Kelly struck at 8:03 and Reilly scored his fourth at
5:45. Clarkson led 8-5 after 45 minutes. Alex Seiler scored
the only goal of the fourth quarter to extend the Knights
advantage to 9-5. Clarkson goalie Griffin Emerson made eight
saves to earn the win. Sophomore faceoff specialist Drew
Costello (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg Free Academy) was
solid again with nine wins in 18 chances to go with four
ground balls for Potsdam.