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Riccardi lifts Bears to first men's soccer victory over Cardinals since 2000

Posted 9/27/14

POTSDAM, N.Y.—On the 56th anniversary of the SUNY Potsdam's men's soccer team's (6-3-1, 1-0 SUNYAC) first ever game, a 4-2 defeat to SUNY Plattsburgh (5-4-1, 0-1), junior midfielder Mario Riccardi …

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Riccardi lifts Bears to first men's soccer victory over Cardinals since 2000

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POTSDAM, N.Y.—On the 56th anniversary of the SUNY Potsdam's men's soccer team's (6-3-1, 1-0 SUNYAC) first ever game, a 4-2 defeat to SUNY Plattsburgh (5-4-1, 0-1), junior midfielder Mario Riccardi (Beacon, N.Y./Beacon) lifted the Bears to a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals and a little revenge. The win snapped a 13-game winless streak against Plattsburgh (0-12-1) and gave Potsdam its first victory in the 67-game series since Oct. 18, 2000. Bears sophomore goalie Nick Davies (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) made four saves to earn his 11th career win and fourth career shutout. The victory was also the 26th for Potsdam's Class of 2014, the most by any Bears class in program history.

Bears fifth-year head coach Adam Parker was extremely satisfied with the way his team played.

"After we lost our last two, I didn't know how we were going to come out today," said Parker. "But I knew the guys would always be up for Plattsburgh. Everything that we had struggled with like winning second balls and just being confident that we're good enough to play with a team that may be more talented, they did that today. It was the entire team. There's not one guy that I could say had a poor game."

The teams felt each other out early in the contest, but picked up their pace as the first half ticked away. Potsdam outshot Plattsburgh, the defending SUNYAC Champs, 8-3 in first 45 minutes, but strong scoring chances were tough to come by for either side. The contest was scoreless at the break.

The Bears got the first dangerous scoring chance of the final period off a corner kick in the 47th minute. However the header from junior defender Alex Griffith (Henrietta, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) was blocked before it reached the net. Nearly 10 minutes later, Davies stymied sophomore forward Alexis Archilla (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick) on a shot he tipped over the net. Davies then robbed Cardinals freshman forward Nicholas Laurent (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) on a point blank opportunity in the 64th minute. After surviving the flurry, Riccardi made the most of a loose ball at the 74:12 mark. The junior picked up the ball in the middle of a crowd and fired it past Plattsburgh junior goalie Mitchell Jordon (Bolton Landing, N.Y./Bolton) and into the right corner of the net. The Cardinals got one more strong chance in the 86th minute as junior midfielder Fabian Chaparro (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) ripped a shot from the left side of the box, but Davies handled it to seal the win.

Jordon matched Davies with four saves on the afternoon. Potsdam outshot Plattsburgh 15-11, but the Cardinals had five corner kicks to the Bears' two.

Parker was especially pleased with his goal scorer's play.

"Mario got his first start today and if you saw the game you knew why," Parker said. "He played with so much energy and fight and did a lot of the gritty things we needed done."

Parker saw the victory as more than just a crucial conference win.

"The win is another one of those stepping stones for the program," added Parker. "We haven't beaten them in a long time and we looked like we belonged on the same field with them today. The last two years I think we've just let them push us around a little bit. It's good to see us stand up for ourselves, have confidence and take the game to them. We need to continue doing that because it doesn't get any easier with the rest of the conference, but we're going to enjoy this for a few hours."

Potsdam hits the road next weekend for two more important conference matchups with Oswego State and SUNY Cortland. The Bears face the Lakers at 4 p.m. on Friday and the Red Dragons at 1 p.m. on Saturday.