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DYLAN WEBB
Special to the Leader
If there was one thing to be taken away from Fredonia’s win over Buffalo State Saturday, it’s that the Blue Devils may have a truly deadly combo on their roster.
Fredonia managed to knock off their conference foes 3-1 on Sept. 30 riding on the backs of senior Audrey Yokopovich and junior Aleeya Clemons, who connected throughout the game on three separate occasions for scores. On similar plays throughout the game, Yokopovich managed to send the ball downfield right to the waiting Clemons, who took each opportunity in stride and netted all three of Fredonia’s goals.
These scoring chances came in minutes 15, 38 and 60 and if you were watching a replay of the game, you’d think that you had watched the same scene three times over. Each time, Yokopovich received the ball at around midfield and sent it far downfield to Clemons. From there she simply outran Buffalo State defenders before stutter-stepping around the goalie and putting the ball in the back of the net.
The victory put Fredonia at 5-6-0 for the season and 2-1-0 in SUNYAC conference play, while Buffalo State fell to 2-7-0 and 0-3-0, respectively. With her three goals, Clemons now has seven for the season, which accounts for half the goals Fredonia has scored this year. Freshman goalie Marissa Quimby’s shutout bid was broken up in minute 87 when a scrum in front of the net led to a goal for Buffalo State.
Before the game on Saturday, Coach Chris Case brought up a key issue that he felt his team needed to shore up if they were going to continue to improve as the season progresses.
“The final third . . . we need to figure out how to make that final pass,” Coach Case explained. “Being more consistent with scoring is an area that we’re trying to work on.”
Coach Case most likely couldn’t have been happier following the game, as not only did his team make that crucial final pass, but they did it on multiple occasions and almost every opportunity they created led to a goal. Building off of that, if the team can learn to spread the field more often and incorporate more of their strengths as they did on Saturday, there is the potential for this team to turn into an offensive powerhouse.
The next time Fredonia takes the field they will matchup against SUNY Cortland on the road on Friday, Oct. 6