Cortland Beats Buff State; Earns Needed AQ
from press releases
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Freshman Lindsay Abbott (South
Onondaga/Onondaga Central) scored five goals as the nationally
19th-ranked Cortland women's lacrosse team defeated 18th-ranked
Buffalo St., 11-8, in the finals of the SUNYAC Tournament. The Red
Dragons improved to 13-6 on the season and earned their 11th
consecutive conference crown and NCAA berth. The Bengals had their
16-game winning streak snapped and fell to 16-2 and await a
possible at-large NCAA playoff berth.
Abbott earned Most Valuable Player honors at the tournament and
increased her season point total to 80 on 65 goals and 15 assists.
Senior Danielle Torre (Massapequa) became Cortland's single-season
points and goals leader with three goals and an assist and now has
98 on 74 goals and 24 assists. Torre broke Brooke VandeWalker's
mark of 94 points set in 2002 and Sue Fitzgerald's record of 73
goals established in 1995.
Juniors Jess Fritz (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) and Nicki Mahoney
(Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy and sophomore Brianna Shost
(Mahopac) each scored a goal for Cortland. Freshman goalie Brianna
Straut (Nanuet) made six saves. Senior Lindsay Bakker
(Sloatsburg/Suffern) had game highs of five ground balls and three
caused turnovers.
Katie Henderson (Hamburg/Frontier) led Buffalo St. with three
goals, and Kendyl Clarkson (Painted Post/Corning) had a goal and
three assists. Ashley O'Brien (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima)
stopped 12 shots.
Cortland never trailed in the game, grabbing a 3-1 lead five
minutes, two seconds into the game and stretched the advantage to
7-4 at the half. The Red Dragons went up 10-5 at the 25:03 mark as
they scored three of the first four goals of the second half. The
Bengals got back into the game with a three-goal run and trailed
just 10-8 with more than 17 minutes remaining on the clock.
Cortland netted the only goal the rest of the game and earned the
11-8 victory.
Bakker, Fritz, Torre and senior Anna Fahey (Syracuse/West Genesee)
were named to the All-Tournament Team. Also named to the
All-Tournament Team were Henderson, O'Brien and Mariah DeBolt of
Buffalo St., Laura Kitts and Cat Sligar of Geneseo and Rosemarie
Fazio and Michelle Symons of Oneonta.
