Super season comes to a close
The greatest season in Fredonia women's lacrosse history is over.
The Blue Devils were eliminated from the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse tournament Sunday with a 16-9 quarterfinal loss to regional host Franklin and Marshall.
It was Fredonia's first trip to the NCAA quarterfinals and the final time on the field for four four-year players, including two All-Americans.
The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 17-4 overall -- four more wins in a season than ever before. Three of their losses came to teams in the NCAA final four -- F&M on Sunday and twice to SUNYAC champ Cortland.
Senior midfielder Katie Kleine (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) picked up four assists. The Second Team All-American raised her career scoring total to 291 points, a new school record.
Meanwhile, senior attacker Marissa Cussins (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post West) picked up two more goals, her team-leading 63rd and 64th of the season. She finished the season with 90 points, a single-season school record. Her career total of 273 points ranks third all-time.
Franklin and Marshall -- ranked No. 3 nationally compared to No. 17 Fredonia -- jumped to an 8-1 lead at halftime. The Diplomats (20-2) owned their lead in large part to a 10-0 advantage in draw controls in the first half.
The Blue Devils cut the deficit to 8-4 on goals by Cussins, sophomore attacker Kristie Kleine (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia), and sophomore attacker Sam Owen (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) early in the second half.
The goal by Owen with 23:44 remaining caused F&M head coach Mike Faith to call a timeout. The Diplomats' Emily D'Erasmo won the ensuing draw control and ran through the defense to score. Seconds later, a goal by Paige Moriarty put F&M up 10-4.
Fredonia's comeback attempt was finished.
Kristie Kleine led Fredonia's scoring with two goals, giving her five on the weekend and 34 on the season.
Single goal-scorers for Fredonia were graduate student and defender Shelby DePew (Macedon, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon), senior attacker Katie Glagolev (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas), and freshman defender Audrey Yokopovich (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas). The Blue Devils were also awarded an own goal.
Cussins led the Blue Devils with four ground balls while Yokopovich and junior defender Jessica Tuttle (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) had three each. Katie Kleine finished with four draw controls, giving her a school career record of 197. She also had two caused turnovers, adding to her school-record total of 132. She also finished with 138 career assists, another Fredonia school record.
Freshman goalkeeper Nicole Burrows (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) finished with 13 saves. She also had two caused turnovers. Burrows played every minute of every game in 2015.
While Fredonia's season ended, F&M advanced to its fifth NCAA semifinals. The Diplomats are two-time national champs.
