Middlebury Men's Lax Downs Plattsburgh

Jake Madnick won 11-13 face-offs on the afternoon.

Middlebury won 18 of 22 face-offs on its way to a 12-7 victory over Plattsburgh State (1-5) on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium on Tuesday. The Panthers (3-2) are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Bowdoin for a 1:00 p.m. start, while the Cardinals are idle for over a week before hosting Rensselaer on the 28th at 4:00 p.m.

Middlebury ran off three goals in a 1:34 span in the first quarter, holding a 3-0 lead at the 7:27 mark. Henry Riehl got things going, before Will Brossman scored with a bounce shot. Michael McCormack capped the three-goal spurt with a shot from 15 yards out. Plattsburgh answered with two goals, before Danny Jacobs put the hosts on top 4-2 with .8 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Cardinals made it a one-goal game just 51 seconds into the second quarter when Billy Moller converted a pass from behind the net by Stephen Kane. McCormack and Chase Goree gave Middlebury a 6-3 lead 59 seconds apart, before Plattsburgh's Ryan Hubbard cut the lead to 6-4 with 2:26 left in the second quarter. McCormack netted his third of the quarter, followed  by Kane ripping a shot into the back of the net to make it a 7-5 game at the half.

McCormack opened the second half with a bounce shot from 20 yards out for an 8-5 lead with 13:35 remaining. A.J. Kucinski scored the only other Panther goal of the third quarter when he cut down the middle and scored from 10 yards out. Hubbard cut the lead to 9-5 with 2:53 remaining when he picked up a ground ball and scored from the left side.

The lead grew to 10-6 in the fourth quarter when McCormack struck from 20 yards out for his career-high fifth goal of the game. The Cardinals made it a 10-7 game with a tally from Hubbard at the 9:54 mark, but that would be their final goal of the game. Kucinski extended his point streak to 22-games with an assist on a man-up tally from Goree at the 6:37 mark, while Wes Quinzani closed the scoring on a man-down goal with 3:45 remaining.

Middlebury held a 51-32 shots advantage in the game and held a 23-16 edge in ground balls. Jake Madnick won 11-13 face-offs and picked up a game-high six ground balls, while John Jackson was 6-8 at the X. McCormack's five goals paced all scorers, while Goree netted two and Kucinski earned a goal and two assists. Charles Midgley made eight saves in goal to pick up the win.

Hubbard's three goals led Plattsburgh, while Moller added two goals and one assist. Donald Tesoriero finished the afternoon with a dozen stops in goal.