ONEONTA, N.Y.—The Hartwick Hawks (4-2) fought off the SUNY Potsdam men’s lacrosse team (3-2) late for a 15-11 victory on Saturday afternoon. Junior Pete Pike (Watertown, N.Y./General Brown) led the Bears with two goals and two assists and sophomore Derek Frost (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville East) had a goal and two assists. Dave Aitchison had three goals and four assists for Hartwick and teammate Harry Hughes finished with five goals and an assist.

Potsdam built first half leads of 3-1 and 4-2, but each time the Hawks battled back and eventually grabbed their first lead, 5-4, at 9:47 of the second quarter. The teams traded the next three goals and were tied 6-6 heading into the break. Bears’ junior Joe Paparella (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) scored his two goals in the first half, while sophomore Robbie Ashlaw (North Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) and Pike each had a goal and an assist in the first 30 minutes.

Hartwick opened the second half with a 4-0 run over the first 12 minutes of the third quarter to grab a 10-6 lead. Potsdam struck twice quickly in the final minute of quarter with goals from sophomore Kyle Nicholas (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) at 00:56 and senior Sean McAuliffe (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) at 00:34. After the Hawks recorded the first marker of the final quarter, goals by Pike and McAuliffe closed the gap to 11-10 with 7:28 left. That would be as close as Potsdam would get as Hartwick closed the contest on a 4-1 run for the 15-11 victory. Frost scored the final goal for the Bears with 17 seconds left.

Potsdam junior goalie Mike Quinlan (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville South) played the entire game, making nine saves. Carl Lengel made six saves in 60 minutes to earn the victory for the Hawks.

Junior Zeppy O’Geen (Massena, N.Y./Massena) dominated the faceoffs for the Bears, winning 21 of the 28 he took. O’Geen also picked up a game-high 14 ground balls. Hartwick finished 5-11 on the man advantage and Potsdam was 0-3.

Bears Head Coach Rick Berkman admitted that undisciplined play really hurt Potsdam today.

“We took too many penalties which really put pressure on our defense and tired them out by the end,” said Berkman. “We really controlled the faceoffs, but we didn’t protect the ball and ended up with too many turnovers. I hope this is a game we learn from and take that into Tuesday.”

The Bears return home on Tuesday, March 22, for a 4 p.m. showdown with the Morrisville Mustangs.