BROCKPORT, N.Y.—Senior captain Pete Gropp (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) made a season-high 19 saves in a playoff-clinching 11-8 win at the College at Brockport (11-3, 4-2 SUNYAC) on Saturday afternoon. The SUNY Potsdam lacrosse team (10-5, 3-3) raced out to a 6-0 lead and held on to clinch the fourth seed in the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament. Sophomore attackman Eric Soderquist (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) and junior attackman Berkley Stone (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) each had two goals and an assist to lead the Bears.

It was all Potsdam early. Soderquist and Stone each scored twice along with a goal apiece from sophomore midfielder Nick Orsini (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and senior midfielder Matt Kennedy (Clay, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) and the Bears led 6-0 with 9:31 left in the second quarter. John Countryman finally got the Golden Eagles on the Board at 4:32, but Potsdam led 6-1 at the break.

Junior midfielder Matt Moran (Watertown, N.Y./Immaculate Heart) made it 7-1 35 seconds into the third quarter, but Brockport answered with two in row. Senior attackman Joe Hayes (Black River, N.Y./Carthage) finished a pass from Soderquist at 5:08 to make 8-3 Potsdam.

The Golden Eagles scored the next three and trimmed the lead to 8-6 with 10:44 left in the fourth. Stone set up senior captain Ed Doherty (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) for the Bears' ninth goal nearly three minutes later, but Brockport kept coming. Two goals later Potsdam held a 9-8 advantage with 5:10 to play. However, the Bears finished strong with a goal from Doherty and Kennedy each to preserve the victory.

Gropp stopped five shots in each of the first three quarters and four in the last for the 15th win of his career. Conor Nowak made 10 stops for the Golden Eagles.

With his two goals, Doherty is now tied for fifth place on the program's goals list with 92.

On Wednesday, Potsdam will head to top-seeded SUNY Cortland for a 4 p.m. battle with the Red Dragons in the SUNYAC Semifinals.