It appeared as though the women's lacrosse team was running on all cylinders as they prepared for their game against SUNY Brockport on Tuesday after a healthy dose of success over the weekend, defeating SUNY Potsdam 14-9 on Friday and then demolishing SUNY Oswego 22-14 Saturday.
On Friday against the Bears, the Knights trailed 4-2 with just over 12 minutes left in the first half before senior Abby Hungerford came up big, scoring two goals in just over a minute.
Though the team trailed going into the second half, the Knights soon found their rhythm and scored the first six goals of the half to take the lead for good.
That rhythm carried over into the contest against Oswego, as Geneseo scored seven straight goals in the first half alone. Junior Anna Hutchings had four of her five goals in the first half. Hungerford and first-year Rachel Petrone contributed three goals each before halftime as well.
Junior Annie Smith recorded six saves off of 20 shots, while freshman Julie Bernatzky had three saves in her first action in over two weeks. Despite such a long layoff, Bernatzky said she was ready for the call. "I try and stay prepared and be involved in the game as much as possible," she said. "Once I get the call I just try and psych myself up and go out and do my best." She added that while the adjustment to the college game isn't easy, "The team is really supportive of me when I'm in the game and that makes it easier to relax."
The Golden Eagles and their zone defense provided a different level of competition on Tuesday, however, and the Knights lost 11-9. Before the game, head coach Carly Ritchlin said: "The key for us will be shot selection. We have a tendency to just shoot at the goalie instead of waiting for good shots. That's leads to an automatic turnover." In the end, however, the Knights recorded 16 turnovers, compared to just 13 for Brockport.
According to Ritchlin, Brockport has been able to stop opponents with a new form of the zone defense. The Golden Eagles led the conference in least amount of goals allowed going into the game. For the first half the Knights were able to find ways to break the zone as Geneseo led the first period 6-5.
In the second half though, it appeared as though the Knights' wheels fell off as Brockport scored three goals in just three minutes to break the game open. Geneseo pulled within one, but Dayna Piraino recorded her fourth assist on the day for Brockport as she passed it to Lindsey Cayea who slipped it into the goal. Smith took the loss, tallying 10 saves on the day.
The Knights finish out the regular season this weekend with Senior Day on Friday at 4 p.m. against SUNY Fredonia and then travel to Buffalo State on Saturday.