ANTHONY GETTINO
Special to The Leader
This past week saw quite a bit of action from our teams here at Fredonia.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams each had their first meet Aug. 31. Other teams that competed were the men’s and women’s soccer teams, as well as the women’s tennis and volleyball teams.
The men’s soccer team began competition last Friday, Aug. 30, with a 2-2 tie game at Hunter College. The game went to double overtime.
Leading the Blue Devils in scoring was third year player Jackson Retzer, who scored both goals of the day. The first goal was assisted by junior Conrad Rathbun. His second was on a free kick in the 52nd minute.
The team then went on to win their next game on Aug. 31 at Baruch in a final score of 1-0. The lone goal of the game came again by Jackson Retzer, but was assisted by sophomore Matt Cullen.
The Blue Devils play again on Sept. 14 at home versus Grove City.
As for the women’s soccer team, they started their season off at John Carroll University with a 2-3 loss. Freshman Jordan Barrett started off the scoring for the Blue Devils off an assisted pass by junior Erin Pratt. The second goal of the day came from sophomore Sophia Richiusa off of a corner kick by junior Melanie Minotti.
As for the second game they played this season, it was a tough match for the Fredonia squad as they lost to Case Western Reserve University in a score of 0-8.
Their next competition is slated for Sept. 11 at home versus Alleghany.
The women’s tennis team has started off the season strong, going 2-0 with a third matchup against SUNYAC rival Geneseo being postponed for weather.
In the first set of matches, the Blue Devils faced off against D’Youville and won outright 7-0. In doubles, Anna Chiacchia and Sarah Bunk won 8-3, Jane Chiacchia and Taylor Marelli won 8-4 and Avril King and Anna Clark won 8-2.
For singles, Anna Chiacchia won in two sets with scores of 6-4 and 6-4. Sarah Bunk won both sets without losing a game with 6-0 and 6-0 being the final scores. Jane Chiacchia won both sets with scores of 6-0 and 6-1, and Taylor Marelli won both sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-1. Avril King also won both sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-2, and Anna Clark won both of her sets in scores of 6-0 and 6-3.
The tennis team nearly completed its second sweep against Penn State Behrend on Wednesday, Sept. 4,
winning with a score of 8-1.
The Blue Devils took two of three doubles matches, with Anna Chiacchia and Sarah Bunk winning 8-3 and Jane Chiacchia and Taylor Marelli winning 8-1. Avril King and Emma Nortney fell just short of the win, losing in a score of 8-7.
As for the singles matches, each person on the team won their sets, with Anna Chiacchia and Avril King both posting scores of 6-0 and 6-0 in their matches. Sarah Bunk won 6-3 and 6-0, Jane Chiacchia won 6-1 and 6-3, Taylor Marelli won 6-2 and 6-1 and Dominique Martello won in her first action of the season in scores of 6-1 and 7-5.
The Blue Devils tennis team travels to Houghton on Thursday and Brockport Saturday for their first conference match of the season.
The women’s volleyball team started off the season by heading to the Cortland Red Dragon Classic, where they played in four separate games and came out with a record of 1-3.
The first match was a 0-3 loss to Baldwin Wallace. Emma Booth led the team in kills with eight.
The second matchup was against SUNY Canton, where the Blue Devils got their lone win of the tournament 3-0, with set scores of 25-19, 25-18 and 25-16. Booth again led the team with nine kills, but Emily Jones had seven kills and Makenna Kallin had six.
The third match resulted in a 2-3 loss to St. Lawrence in scores of 25-19, 16-25, 23-25, 25-21 and 15-8. Booth and Jones led the team in kills with 13 and 12, while Eleanor Clarke had seven kills.
In the fourth and final match, Fredonia fell to Lebanon Valley 0-3 in scores of 25-27, 16-25 and 20-25. Booth had nine kills and Jones had eight.
The Blue Devils volleyball team will play at home against Penn State Behrend on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The men’s cross country team participated in their first invitational of the season on Saturday, Aug. 31, placing second of four teams in the Fredonia Invite 6k race. Leading the Blue Devils was senior Aidan Pollard in sixth place overall in a time of 20:48, followed by freshmen Anthony Ruiz and Collin Barmore at times of 20:55 and 20:57 in eighth and 10th respectively.
Rounding out the scoring five were sophomores Noah Watkins and Matthew Erman. The team heads to the Yellow Jacket Invitational at the University of Rochester on Sept. 14.
As for the women’s cross country team, they placed third of three teams in the Fredonia Invite, coming in behind Cortland and Oswego. Leading the Blue Devils was sophomore Elena Davis with a 12th place finish in the women’s 4k race. The other scorers for the team in order went junior Mary Clare Haseley, sophomore Morgan Ashton, freshman Elizabeth Ramsey and junior Sarah Buckley rounding out the top five.
They, too, will be traveling to the University of Rochester for the Yellow Jacket Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14.