ONEONTA, NY – The Hartwick Men's Lacrosse team scored 9 goals in the third period to break a 6-6 halftime tie on their way towards the season's 3^rd win.  The 17-9 victory over the visiting Cardinals in front of the home crowd brought Hartwick's record to 3-2 while Plattsburgh fell to 2-4.
 
The two teams played each other even in both of the first two quarters, with neither team able to break out and control the game in the first half.  Plattsburgh started the scoring on a man-up opportunity less than 4 minutes into the game, but Hartwick tied it up a minute later.  Tyler Nocito started the Hawk scoring after taking a pass from Kainen Francis-Thompson and burying it in the back of the net.  Seth Bello was next to tie the game for Hartwick, scoring the quarter's final goal with 2:05 on the clock.
 
Just like the first, the Cardinals scored early in the second on another man-up opportunity to take a 3-2 advantage.  It didn't take long for Hartwick to tie the game again, as Francis-Thompson scored his first of the day at 10:27.  Matthew Locasto gave Hartwick their first lead of the game a couple minutes later, taking a Bello pass and rifling it past the Plattsburgh keeper.  Down 1, the Cardinals rallied off 3 consecutive goals to take a 2 goal lead with less than 2 minutes in the half.   Although it seemed improbable, Hartwick's Francis-Thompson scored twice in the final 24 seconds of the half, the second of which came with the clock reading 4.9 seconds, to send the teams to the half tied at 6.
 
After the evenly played first half, Hartwick dominated the 3^rd which proved to be the difference in the game.  Hartwick scored 9 goals; the first 3 and the final 6 to take a commanding 8 goal advantage into the game's final quarter.  With all the momentum, Hartwick never let the game get within reach and finished with 2 goals to Plattsburgh's 2 goals in that final 15 minutes of action. 
 
Kainen Francis-Thompson had quite a game, scoring 5 and assisting 3 on his way to an 8 point performance.  Shane Kerrigan scored 3 while Dylan Ferguson and Tyler Nocito each had 2.  Seth Bello, James Schneider, Cooper Francis, Zack Orth and Matthew Locasto each got into the scoring column.  Bello added two assists.
 
Kyle McKee had another good game in net, stopping 15 shots in all 60 minutes. His GAA sits at 9.00 with 76 saves on the season.
 
Hartwick will hit the road for their next two game, starting their conference season at Russell Sage on Friday March 25^th.  The game is slated to begin at 7:00PM.