MICHELLE HALE
Assistant Sports Editor
Fredonia’s women’s lacrosse team improves its record to 14-2 with two SUNYAC wins on the home turf. Two wins against the Buffalo State Bengals and the Potsdam Bears allowed the Blue Devils to clench second seed in SUNYAC standings.
Last Tuesday, the Blue Devils lacrosse team played the 16th and final Battle by the Lake rivalry game between Fredonia athletics and Buffalo State athletics. Sixteen different sports within Fredonia and Buffalo State battled to earn points for each win. The overall winner of the cup was decided after Fredonia women’s lacrosse team defeated the Bengals 18-12.
The Blue Devils are currently ranked number 17 in the country, according to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association.
At the end of the first half, Fredonia led the way with a score of 8-5. Within eight minutes into the second, the Blue Devils pulled away with a 7-0 scoring streak that made it almost impossible for the Bengals to answer to the goal deficit.
“This game really showed how well our team can click together on the field,” said junior defender Lauren Metz. “We were all really happy to see that we could all work together to shut them down defensively and capitalize offensively.”
Fredonia goals were scored by senior Katie Kleine with five, senior Marissa Cussins and sophomore Emily Polizzi both with four, sophomore Kristie Kleine with three and both junior Katie Miller and freshman Audrey Yokopovich with one goal.
Cussins was credited with two assists, sophomore Sam Owen with two, and Katie Kleine and Yokopovich both with one. Freshman goalkeeper Nicole Burrows had three saves and was recently named SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time in her career.
The Blue Devils ended their last SUNYAC conference game with a win against the Potsdam Bears. The win was needed to help them earn a bid towards the NCAA Tournament, but they were also playing for something else: the four Blue Devil seniors.
Shelby DePew, Katie Kleine, Katie Glagolev and Cussins were honored in a pre-game ceremony. All four seniors started the game and were all able to contribute to the Blue Devils offense. Kleine had three goals, DePew had two goals and Glagolev had one. Cussins was able to contribute four assists for the Blue Devils.
Other Fredonia goals were scored by Kristie Kleine, Yokopovich and Polizzi.
Going into the second half, Fredonia was only up 4-3 and needed a spark to pull away a win.
“We really wanted to come up with a win for our seniors,” said junior Jessica Tuttle. “Even though we already clenched second seed, we knew we needed this for the NCAAs.”
The Blue Devils defeated the Bears 9-6. Burrows was credited with four saves.
“If we can improve on defending the cutters on defense and reducing our turnovers, we will be a hard team to beat in SUNYACs,” said Katie Kleine.
Fredonia will be traveling to Cortland Friday for the SUNYAC semifinals. They will be playing the winner of Buffalo State and Geneseo, who played in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 28.