POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (4-2, 1-0 SUNYAC) withstood a late charge from SUNY Geneseo (4-3, 0-1) to down the Blue Knights in its SUNYAC opener 8-7. Freshman attackman Eric Soderquist (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) led the Bears with two goals and an assist and senior captain Jon Woodworth (Great Bend, N.Y./Carthage) and freshman attackman Dalston Day (Akwesasne, N.Y./Salmon River) each scored twice. Junior goalie Pete Gropp (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) stopped 12 shots for his and Potsdam's fourth consecutive win.

The Bears opened up a 3-0 lead over the first seven minutes of the contest. Day put Potsdam up for good on a helper from Soderquist at 12:28. Two minutes later, Soderquist netted his first of the day. At 8:03, sophomore attackman Matt Moran (Watertown, N.Y./Immaculate Heart) extended the lead to three. Geneseo senior goalie Alex Howell (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) was injured on the play and replaced by freshman Michael Yehl (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili). At the two-minute mark Blue Knights junior midfielder Joe Chiara (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) finally beat Gropp with a rocket from the right side and Geneseo trailed 3-1 after one quarter.

Just over two minutes into the second stanza, junior long stick midfielder Lindsey Pound (Henderson, N.Y./Immaculate Heart) found Day to make it a 4-1 contest. Fifty-two seconds later, senior attackman Andre Keating (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) scored the second and final goal of the second quarter and Geneseo trailed just 4-2 at the break.

Woodworth muscled his way in for two unassisted markers in the third quarter at 10:23 and 4:03. However, senior attackman Cory Gleasman (Clinton, N.Y./Clinton) struck in between the goals at 8:36 to keep the Blue Knights within striking distance. Potsdam led 6-3 after 45 minutes.

Geneseo senior attackman Steven Cregan (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) opened the final quarter's scoring with a goal at 7:58 to make it a two-goal deficit again. Less than a minute later, junior captain Pat Bonafede (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) scored what the Bears hoped would be a momentum-killing goal and Potsdam led 7-4 with just 6:59 to play. There was no change in score over the next four minutes, but the Blue Knights broke the drought with two goals to in 24 seconds to make it 7-6. Senior midfielder Steve Aziz (Jamesville, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) struck at 2:56 and Keating got his second of the game at 2:32.

Geneseo won the ensuing faceoff, but Bears junior attackman Ed Doherty (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) forced a turnover and picked up the ground ball. Potsdam ran over a minute off the clock and with 56 seconds left, Soderquist ran the ball in from the right corner and fired a shot over a Blue Knight defender and Yehl to make it 8-6. Geneseo still wasn't finished and notched another faceoff win. At the 34-second mark, Cregan scored his second of the day to make it 8-7. The Blue Knights didn't get another chance and Potsdam celebrated a 1-0 start to conference play.

Howell allowed three goals in the opening 6:57. Yehl was solid over the remainder of the game, allowing five goals and making seven saves.

Geneseo outshot Potsdam 41-24 and picked up 31 ground balls to the Bears 25. Potsdam was 0-for-4 on the man advantage and the Blue Knights went 0-for-1.

The Bears have won the last four home games against Geneseo dating back to 2011.

Potsdam is back in action when the Bears "host" Clarkson University on Tuesday, March 31, at Clarkson's Hantz Field at 4 p.m. The Bears are looking for their first win over the Golden Knights since 2007. Three of the last for contests have been decided by just a single goal.