TYLER PACOS
Sports Editor
Men’s hockey dominates in home-opening weekend
Fredonia men’s hockey is back as they traveled to Angola, Ind. for their first two games of the year this past weekend on Oct. 28 and 29. The Blue Devils dropped both of their matches against Trine, losing 5-1 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday.
During Friday’s match, Bryce Witman was the only Blue Devil to score as he put his team on the board shorthanded and unassisted in the second period. Logan Dyck, reigning SUNYAC Male Rookie of the Year, made 35 saves while facing 40 total shots.
Moving on to Saturday’s match, Fredonia was able to strike more offensively but fell short in overtime. Scoring first for the devils was Johnny Malandruccolo, followed by Antonio Demacopoulos and Greg Lee, who sent the game into overtime in the dying seconds of the third period.
Unfortunately, Trine found the back of the net first in overtime, sending the Blue Devils home with an 0-2 record. Logan Dyck had himself another busy night in net, facing 44 shots and stopping 40.
Fredonia then traveled back home to host their first two home games of the season, as well as their first SUNYAC matches of the year as well.
On Friday, Nov. 4, Fredonia hosted Buffalo State in the teams first SUNYAC game, defeating the Bengals 5-3 with two late third period goals by the Devils. Freshman Jake Murphy opened the game early with a quick tally in the first period for Fredonia, only 1:41 into the game.
Buffalo would answer right back with three unanswered goals, bringing them ahead by two halfway through the second. Fredonia responded quickly though, as Jake Blackwell and Ryan Bailey tied things back up at three a piece heading into the third.
A quiet third period had the fans expecting another overtime tilt, but senior Anders Johnson scored the game winner with just a minute and thirty seconds remaining on the clock. Bryce Witman added to the tally shortly after to cap off the home opener for the Devils with a final score of 5-3. Logan Dyck stopped 28 out of 31 shots faced.
The Blue Devils then hosted the Niagara University Club team for a non-conference matchup on Saturday, Nov. 6, defeating the Purple Eagles 4-1. Scoring for the Devils was Andrew Keith and Evan Pitzman, and topping it off with two goals on the night was Callen Daily.
The Blue Devils are back in action Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. as they host the Nazareth Golden Flyers in a non-conference matchup.
McCrone, Hagen and Price on top for men’s and women’s swimming and diving
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving team traveled to Buffalo State on Oct. 29 where they competed in a tri-meet against Buffalo State and Baldwin Wallace University.
Sophomore Patrick McCrone finished first in two events for Fredonia, the 200 yard backstroke and 500 yard freestyle. Noah Wisniewski took second in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:09.90, and Tyler Conti was runner up in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:15.28.
Kayla Hagen won two individual events, 100 yard backstroke and 100 yard freestyle in addition to a relay, and Isabelle Price winning both of her diving events, the 1 meter and 3 meter boards.
The team then traveled to SUNY Geneseo for another tri-meet this weekend against Geneseo and Grove City on Saturday, Nov. 5.
Top performers for the men’s team were Tyler Conti placing fourth in the 200 yard fly with a time of 2:15.99, and Aaron Burkett placing fifth in the 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 12:19.98.
For the women’s team, Kayla Hagen continued her recent success placing second in the 50 yard freestyle and third in the 100 yard freestyle.
Both teams will play host to the University of Rochester and Alfred University on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams start their seasons on Nov. 8 as the men’s team will travel to Allegheny to face the Gators at 8 p.m. and the women’s team will host Hiram College in Dods Hall at 7 p.m.
The men’s and women’s indoor track teams will also start their season on Dec. 2, as they travel to Houghton University for their first official meet of the season.