CORTLAND, N.Y. – The No. 11 College at Brockport women's lacrosse team suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday at the hand of State University of New York Athletic Conference foe, No. 1 SUNY Cortland, 17-7.
The Golden Eagles fall to 11-1 on the season and 4-1 in league play while the Red Dragons improve to 13-0 on the year and 5-0 in conference action.
The first half of play was a back-and-forth battle, with head coach
Stephen Wagner's squad going tick-for-tack with the defending National Champions. After Cortland opened the contest with a goal, just a minute later
Kelly Wall found the back of the cage to even the score at 1-1.
Following a second Red Dragon goal, the Golden Eagles got the edge after back-to-back scores from Wall and
Makensie Schuber to make the count 3-2 with 17:28 remaining in the half. Cortland worked in an equalizer, but it was Wall again who worked in her third goal to regain the Brockport lead at 4-3 by the 13-minute mark.
Brockport worked to keep pace with their opponents, and with a pair of Red Dragon scores, the Green and Gold provided answers in the form of Schuber and
Samantha Dooling goals to make the count 6-5 in favor of the Golden Eagles with three-minutes to play in the half. A Red Dragon goal to close the period evened the count at 6-6 all heading into the break.
In the second half the Golden Eagles lost their steam, struggling to keep pace with Cortland. Brockport saw their counterparts go on a 10-0 run to the 7:15 mark to take a 16-6 advantage. In the final 30 seconds of action, Dooling worked in the final Brockport goal before Cortland scored a last second shot to make the final count 17-7.
The Golden Eagles were neck-and-neck with Cortland in several categories, including shots (30-27), shots on goal (22-21), ground balls (18-17), and free-position shots (11-10) and just edged the Red Dragons in draw wins at 13-12.
Lauren Mancini picked up three caused turnovers on the day, with Schuber,
Keeley Rice,
Cassandra Minerd and
Sara Shaddock each earning one. Mancini also scooped up three ground balls, while
Andrea Zlinsky and
Courtney Szczesniak each picked up two.
Ciara McKeon led both teams in draws with six, while Szczesniak and
Hannah Cullen each added two apiece.
Shaddock got the start, and saw 39 minutes of play in just her first loss of the season. The net minder had two saves and a team-high four ground balls.
Paige Lammes picked up 21 minutes of action, with three saves on the day.
The Golden Eagles will look to bounce back on Saturday, April 23 when they host SUNYAC foes New Paltz. The game Saturday, with opening draw set for 1 p.m., will serve as senior day, as Brockport will honor its senior members of the team in a ceremony held prior to play.
Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.
