The Geneseo men’s lacrosse playoff picture became murkier after dropping a conference game to SUNY Potsdam 11-10. The Knights looked to improve after coming off a 14-3 loss against No. 1 undefeated SUNY Cortland.
“We struggled to finish and possess the ball on offense, which put a lot of pressure on our defense,” sophomore Steve Aziz said, regarding the Cortland defeat.
On Saturday April 20 the Knights didn’t make the most promising start by surrendering two goals to Bears’ junior Rob Kunz seven seconds apart early in the first quarter. Potsdam kept the offensive pressure on, but thanks to two tallies from senior Tim Burgess and another from sophomore Brent Lawless, Geneseo escaped from the first trailing only 4-3.
The Knights revved up the offense in the middle frames, adding two more goals from Lawless, two from sophomore Sam Thompson and a tally from sophomore Steve Cregan.
Sophomore Zach Yehl scored his fourth of the season. Yehl has earned praise from head coach Jim Lyons in the recent week for his depth.
The Knights took a 9-7 lead to the fourth quarter, a lead they could not hold. Indicative of this rollercoaster of a season, Geneseo was not able sustain the momentum they built in the third quarter
The Bears scored three straight to start the fourth quarter. Senior Pat Morill opened the scoring one minute, 37 seconds into the quarter with his second goal of the game and 12th of the season. Kunz’s third of the game came less than six minutes later, before freshman Ed Doherty put the Bears ahead 10-9 with 6:26 to go.
Aziz answered for the Knights with 5:32 remaining to tie the game, but with just 90 seconds remaining, Doherty’s second of the quarter put the Knights away for good and dropped their conference record to 2-2.
It was a “disappointing loss,” Burgess said, in an email interview, adding that “[We] let it slip away.”
Junior goaltender Ryan Zaremba made nine saves in the losing effort.
The Knights are trying to outrun SUNY Oswego, who they defeated earlier this season in their only meeting. Geneseo plays its final regular-season game against No. 20 SUNY Plattsburgh on Saturday April 27.
Editor’s Note: Geneseo lost to SUNY Brockport 6-5 in overtime. The Knights are 5-7 on the season, 2-3 in SUNYAC play.