Cardinal Points

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Katie Khouri The lacrosse team played at home against Cortland on Saturday, April 7.

Media Credit: Katie Khouri Plattsburgh tries to defend its net in Saturday's game.

Not everything had gone the way the Plattsburgh State lacrosse team had planned last weekend.

The Cardinals took a devastating loss to the 2006 NCAA Division III champion Cortland Red Dragons 21-3.

This game, being PSUC's first SUNYAC conference game of the season, was also the Cards' largest margin of loss this season.

It was a rough first quarter for the Cards, as the Red Dragons took a 6-0 lead.

Cortland's goal-scoring leader Billy Fuchs put three goals past Plattsburgh goaltender Brian Csorny in that quarter alone, making an early statement for the Red Dragons.

Things started to look slightly brighter for PSUC in the second, as Plattsburgh's Kyle Norchi would finally put the Cards on the board 11:36 into the quarter. Eleven seconds after Norchi's goal, teammate Jimmy Tenny put another past Cortland goaltender Michael Robinson, setting the score at 6-2 and pulling the Cards within four.

After this, however, it all went downhill.

Fuchs added another two goals immediately after, giving him five for the day.

Norchi scored the final goal for the Cards a few minutes later, giving him two in the game.

The Red Dragons took a commanding 12-3 lead at the half.

Cortland would go on to score five more goals in the third quarter and pile on another four in the fourth, giving the Red Dragons a 21-3 victory over the Cardinals.

The loss put the Cardinals at an overall 7-3 record on the season and put them at 0-1 in the SUNYAC conference.

"It was a very tough and frustrating day, and not the way we wanted it to turn out," Head Coach P.J. Kavanagh said. "There are many important factors that went wrong, including missing opportunities to score, shooting and team defense."

Kavanagh had some clear thoughts about the way his team played.

"We had good D in each quarter of the game, but (the) six goals we gave up came within the final minute of the quarters," he said. "The guys played their hearts out and nobody quit."

Captain Ryan Cavanagh won 50 percent of his faceoffs against one of the top faceoff winners in the country, Cortland's Josh Cittadino.

The Cards will now travel to Oswego tomorrow to face the Lakers in a 1 p.m. contest.

The Lakers defeated the Cards last year by one goal in Oswego, but the Cards also defeated them two years ago at home by a one-goal margin as well.

Oswego currently stands at 3-5 overall, while holding a record of 0-1 in the SUNYAC, same as the Cardinals.

Oswego's only wins this season came at the hands of: SUNY Farmingdale (14-10), SUNY Maritime (10-8) and Morrisville (16-3), who PSUC defeated 21-4 last weekend.

Oswego averages 8.9 goals per game while allowing an average of 9.6 for opponents.

PSUC's goals per game average is 15.1, while the Cards' goals against average is 10.4.

The Cardinals are now finished with two-thirds of its season, having played 10 games with five left before the SUNYAC tournament in the beginning of May.

Last year, however, the Cardinals had dropped every one of its SUNYAC games at the end of the season, ending with a 7-7 conference record.

All of PSUC's upcoming opponents are in the SUNYAC conference, making it vital for the Cards to stay on top of its game to play well in the SUNYAC tournament.

"We have the entire week to prepare with Wednesday off and we're excited to get back and face Oswego," Kavanagh said.

The Cards will then host Potsdam on Wednesday, April 18. The Bears are 4-4 overall with a 1-0 record in the SUNYAC.

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