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March 10, 2010

Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse tops St. Michael's

By CASEY RYAN VOCK



COLCHESTER, Vt. — After a slow start, the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team used a 10-goal second half to overpower St. Michael's College, 14-12, in inter-division play Wednesday afternoon at Duffy Field.

The win gave the Cardinals a 3-0 start to the season and its first victory over a NCAA Division II opponent since head coach P.J. Kavanagh took over the program in 2007.

Senior attackman Luke Weidlein led all scorers with four goals and two assists. Two of Weidlein's goals came late in the fourth quarter, helping the Cardinals pull away and secure the victory.

Sophomore attackman Peter Morgan also scored four goals and senior attackman Kyle Norchi finished with two goals and two assists for Plattsburgh State, which also held an advantage in shots (54-45), ground balls (35-33) and faceoffs (15-12).

Kavanagh was relieved to see the Cardinals, who trailed by three at halftime, come out much stronger in the second half of the contest.

"We tell the guys we want to play fast, we want to play in transition and we want to push tempo," he said. "But there is a big difference between that and forcing the action and making poor decisions.

"We made much better decisions (in the second half), being smarter with the ball and finishing our opportunities."

The Purple Knights were led by Andy Buccellato (four goals and one assist) and Charlie Niznansky (three goals).

Trailing 3-1 after the first, the Cardinals surrendered two unassisted goals by St. Michael's midfielder Kevin Ford to start the second quarter.

That was the largest lead the Purple Knights would have, as a goal by freshman attackman Joe Kramer and back-to-back scores by Weidlein brought the Cardinals to within three by the end of the half.

Sean Leahy scored on a pass from Buccellato to start the second half for St. Michael's. But then the Plattsburgh State offense exploded, scoring the next four goals and knotting the score at eight.

After the teams exchanged goals, tying the score at nine, Buccellato put the Purple Knights up by one with just over 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

Plattsburgh State answered right back as freshman midfielder Tommy Kilderry scored with just 6 seconds on the clock on an outstanding individual effort, running around much of the St. Michael's defense before dodging to the crease and bouncing a shot passed senior goalie Zach Jandl.

The Cardinals carried the momentum into the final frame. Off the first faceoff — just 13 seconds into the quarter — Kilderry sent the ball to Morgan, who tried to force a pass inside, which somehow went astray and trickled into the goal.

Plattsburgh State never looked back, scoring the next three goals.

St. Michael's tallied the final two, but it wasn't enough.

Kavanagh, fresh off two wins on Long Island last weekend, was pleased with his team's first victory close to home.

"It was good to beat a team that is near by," Kavanagh said. "Maybe it will spark a little bit of a rivalry."

The coach saw a difference in the defensive play later in the game.

"It was really nice to see Brantley Beach embrace our style of play. He is a very talented defenseman and he's very athletic. When he chooses to be dominant, he can be. He was a pretty significant impact player on defense for us today."

The play of junior goalie Logan Carpenter sparked the entire team in the second half, Kavanagh said.

"He did a good job, especially in the third quarter, of stopping the ball and getting the outlet passes up the field. If he can play like that for us, it's a testament to his talent and his hard work."

Kavanagh hopes his team can turn heads in the SUNY Athletic Conference this season.

"Getting a much better start and a poised team effort early in the game is going to help."

The Cardinals next face St. Mary's College in Maryland on Sunday.

Plattsburgh 14, St. Michael's 12

Score by quarters:

Plattsburgh 1 3 6 4 — 14

St. Michael's 3 4 3 2 — 12

Scoring

Plattsburgh State: Luke Weidlein (4-2), Peter Morgan (4-0), Kyle Norchi (2-2), Joey Kramer (2-1) Pat Nastro (0-1), Tommy Kilderry (1-2), Mike Lind (1-0).

St. Michael's: Andy Buccellato (4-1), Charlie Niznansky (3-0), Peter Donnally (2-1), Kevin Hunt (2-0), Sean Leahy (1-0),

Saves: Logan Carpenter, PSU, 15. Zach Jandl, SMC, 25

Faceoffs: Plattsburgh State 15, St. Michael's 12

Shots: Plattsburgh State 54, St. Michael's 45

Ground balls: Plattsburgh State 35, St. Michael's 33

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