Senior day at lacrosse (photo by Riley Olson).
Fredonia State celebrated Senior Day in style on Saturday afternoon, clinching a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs while sitting in sixth place and rolling to a dominant 16-5 victory over Plattsburgh.
The Devils got things going early as Piper Evangelist opened the scoring with a free-position goal. After Plattsburgh evened things up, Mieley Baran took control with back-to-back unassisted tallies to give the Devils a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals added a late man-up goal, trimming the deficit to 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter proved decisive. Katie O'Brien jump-started the run with an unassisted goal, followed by a man-up finish from Noelle Mendez. The Cardinals briefly responded, but Fredonia State erupted offensively. O'Brien added another goal while Evangelist found the back of the net for her second goal of the day. Baran continued her strong performance scoring her third goal. O'Brien scored twice more in the quarter, including a man-down goal off an assist from Gabby Lewinski, as the Devils poured in seven goals to take a commanding 10-4 halftime lead.
Out of the break, Evangelist converted another free-position opportunity to extend the advantage to 11-4. Plattsburgh answered with a man-up goal, but Devils defense tightened the rest of the way, shutting down any chance of a comeback.
Fredonia State pulled away for good in the fourth quarter. O'Brien scored early, followed just seconds later by an Evangelist goal assisted by Baran. Lewinski added a free-position goal while Mendez finished a feed from Baran, and Baran capped the scoring in the final seconds with her fourth goal of the game to seal the 16-5 win.
O'Brien led the Devils attack with five goals. Evangelist and Baran each scored four, with Baran also recording three assists for a game-high seven points. Defensively, Shaliyah Helmick led the way with four ground balls and three caused turnovers. In net, Jessica Kowalski earned the win with three saves while the Cardinal's goalkeeper Aimee Lieman made nine saves.
With the win, Fredonia State improves to 9-8 overall (5-4 SUNYAC) and now looks ahead to Wednesday, April 22 at 4 p.m., when they travel to Buffalo State for a Battle by the Lake matchup.
