Albany, NY – Russell Sage College's men's lacrosse team hosted Plattsburgh State on Friday afternoon at Albany College of Pharmacy's Athletic Stadium in the team's 2023 home opener. Down 6-4 at the half, RSC had a strong second half, but was unable to get past the Cardinals, dropping a 10-9 decision. Plattsburgh improves to 2-0, while the loss puts RSC at 1-4.
The game was back and forth in scoring as graduate performer Shea Obado (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) tallied the first goal of the afternoon, spotting the Gators to an early 1-0 lead just 30 seconds into the action. Plattsburgh answered with three straight goals and took a 6-4 lead at the intermission.
RSC chipped away at the Cardinal lead and outscored Plattsburgh 5-4 in the second half. Plattsburgh's sophomore attacker Mike Walsh (Westchester, NY/Lakeland) gave his squad a 10-8 lead with 2:19 on a man-up goal for his third score or the day.
RSC junior midfielder Anthony Marrone (Monroe, NJ/Monroe Township) scored at 1:45 in the fourth to pull the Gators to within a goal and Plattsburgh took a time out. RSC's rookie Nate Kettle (Killbuck, NY/Salamamca) got a shot off in the final minute but Cardinal keeper, junior Dan Clements (Putnam Valley, NY/Putnam Valley) recorded his 12th of the afternoon to dash the Gator hopes of tying the action at 10-10.
For the game, Clements made 12 saves with nine goals allowed, while RSC's rookie goalie Andrew Collora (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) made 10 saves in the action, yielding 10 goals.
RSC's Obado finished the day with one goal and six goal grounds as well as caused turnover. Obado continues to add to his active program records for most ground balls with 175 and 46 caused turnovers. He is also ranked in the Top five in career goals (44) and ranks third with his 66 career points.
Graduate performer Bailey Martin (Syracuse, NY/Onondaga Central) added a goal with two assists, elevating his resume as the program's all-time point leader with 98 on 62 goals with 34 assists. Junior midfielder Adam Willig (Buffalo, NY/Amherst Central) added two goals, while junior midfielder Jake McElwee (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Liberty) tallied two goals and an assist. Junior Ryan Hanna (Flanders, NJ/Mt. Olive) won nine of his 13 faceoffs on Friday added three ground balls as well.
RSC is back in action against Gordon College on March 7 at 3 p.m. in a contest to be played in Norfolk, Virginia on Tuesday.
