BOXSCORE
The College at Brockport's women's lacrosse program has reached unprecedented heights in the last five years, including earning the school's first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III tournament during the 2010 season.
Safe to say, the Golden Eagles' State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game at Buffalo State on April 26 was not among those highlights. The Golden Eagles struggled all game long and fell to the Bengals 18-2 in their next to last SUNYAC game of the year.
Facing those same Bengals in the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament Friday afternoon, the third-seeded Golden Eagles avenged one of the worst losses in school history and in the process, earned a shot at redemption against perennial favorite Cortland.
Six different Golden Eagles scored two-plus goals, led by sophomore
Kaila Maguire (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam), who scored four goals as Brockport blew out No. 2 Buffalo State 16-6 Friday afternoon at Cortland.
Brockport (10-5 overall) advances to face Cortland (17-1) at noon Saturday in the SUNYAC championship game at Cortland.
Brockport and Cortland have squared off four times in the championship — 2010, 2008, 2007 and 1997, the inaugural SUNYAC tournament.
Sophomore
Sarah Brown (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) and junior
Dayna Piraino (Syracuse, NY/Henninger) each scored three goals while Brown added two assists in the semifinals for Brockport.
Second-seeded Buffalo State struck first, scoring just 29 seconds in, before Brown and Piraino scored goals 62 seconds apart early in the first half to stake the Golden Eagles to a 2-1 lead with 25:26 left in the half.
Brown found the back of the net with her team-leading 31st goal of the year with 26:28 remaining in the first half. A little more than a minute later, Piraino scored her 20th goal of the year for a 2-1 lead before the Bengals answered with two goals over a span of 4:43 to reclaim the lead, 3-2.
The two teams held each other scoreless over the next 10:39 before Maguire evened the score. After missing a shot wide with less than nine minutes to go in the half, Maguire scored the equalizer with 8:05 left before halftime.
The Bengals, ranked 19th in the latest
Synapse Sports (formerly womenslacrosse.com) national poll, reclaimed the lead with 4:32 remaining before the Golden Eagles tied it on a free-position shot from Scordo. Scordo took two steps and fired a shot low past Buffalo State goalie Ashley O'Brien. It was Scordo's 21st goal of 2011.
After Maguire won the ensuing draw control, Motondo raced downfield and buried her 15th goal of the year for a 5-4 Brockport edge.
Following a Buffalo State turnover, senior
Amanda Massmann (Bohemia, NY/Connetquot) brought the ball all the way down the field before finding Brown. Brown worked the ball to Bianchi, who pushed the lead to 6-4 with 45 seconds left in the half.
The Golden Eagles defense continued its stellar ways, clamping down on Buffalo State's talented attack. Brockport held the Bengals scoreless for 20 minutes, 27 seconds bridging both halves while the Golden Eagles' offense rattled off nine unanswered goals to take a 12-4 lead.
Motondo's second goal of the game put Brockport up 7-4 and just 1:36 later, Brown went one-on-one, faked her way past a defender and buried the shot for an 8-4 lead.
Maguire scored unassisted with 23:31 remaining, and Scordo pumped in her second goal of the game unassisted with 21:58 left for a 10-4 lead.
Brown and Maguire each added goals, with Maguire scoring on a free-position shot, as the Golden Eagles took their largest lead of the game, 12-4 with 14:38 remaining.
The Bengals battled back and scored two straight goals before Bianchi found the back of the net, off a feed from Brown, with 12:39 left. Piraino extended the lead to 14-6 off a feed from Motondo and Maguire and Piraino closed out Brockport's scoring with back-to-back goals less than a minute apart late in the second half.
Senior
Jamie Kaminsky (Oakdale, NY/Sayville) made four saves for the Golden Eagles, who advanced into their fourth SUNYAC championship in the last five years.
