ZACHARY PINTI
Special to The Leader
The Fredonia Blue Devils came into this past weekend with a 1-6-1 record in their last eight games (4-8-1 overall). With two highly competitive matchups against Potsdam on Friday and Plattsburgh on Saturday, it proved to be an uphill battle to turn their season around.
On Friday, the team traveled to Potsdam — a team facing their own recent struggles with only five goals in their last five games. The Blue Devils got into a hole early, giving up a goal to Potsdam forward Alex Minsker 4:18 into the game. A minute later Fredonia defender Mike Biggane headed in a corner kick from fellow defender Jakob Persons for his first goal of the season. The score would remain tied going into half.
Despite putting on a lot of pressure early in the second half, the Blue Devils could not bury another goal. Their inability to finish cost them, as Potsdam was able to gain a 3-1 lead with goals from Chris Schrum and Steven Auyer at the 53:30 mark and the 73:00 mark respectively.
Fredonia’s Jay Dry was finally able to put one in the back of the net at the 82:27 mark, thanks to the assist from Luke Tylutki. Unfortunately it would not be enough as Fredonia fell to Potsdam for the first time since 2005. The Blue Devils outshot Potsdam 16-15 and 6-4 in corner kicks.
The very next day, the Devils made the trip to Plattsburgh to face a Cardinals team having a fairly successful season (10-3-1 overall). The Cardinals put the pressure on right from the beginning, outshooting the Blue Devils 14-5 in the first half.
Fredonia was able to stave the offensive onslaught for the most part, except for a late tally by Plattsburgh forward Matt Hamilton on a free kick late in the first half. The second half was more even in terms of opportunities, but Plattsburgh again posted the only goal of the half on a corner kick from Tom Greene, booted in by Alexis Archilla.
That would end up being the final score as the Blue Devils fell 2-0. Plattsburgh outshot Fredonia 18-12.
It was a disappointing weekend for the 3Blue Devils as they dropped to 4-10-1 on the season. Fortunately they are home next weekend for games against New Paltz on Friday at 3 p.m. and Oneonta on Saturday at 1 p.m. They will be Fredonia’s last regular season home games of the season.