Women’s lacrosse continues winning streak

Photo courtesy of the Geneseo Website

On Saturday, Apr. 19, the Geneseo women’s lacrosse team traveled to SUNY Polytechnic Institute to play in another game to advance their team to the Empire 8 tournament. 

At the top of the game, senior attacker Sophie Lyko gained possession of the ball with the draw control start. Lyko got it to graduate student attacker Maddie Brown, who brought it up the field, getting through Polytechnic’s defense before handing it back off to Lyko for the day's first goal— 15 seconds into the game.

With the second draw of the day, sophomore defender and midfielder Grace Geary won possession, bringing it 20 yards up the field before passing it off to Brown, who attacked the defense and offered a quick assist to junior midfielder Alaina Renia, who found the back of the net. Not even ten seconds later, freshman attacker and midfielder Rosemary Moahoney had a quick shot from the crease. 

Polytechnic held possession for a short time until they dropped the ball. Reina grabbed it from the ground and brought it up the field on a breakaway to the cage, and with a successful goal, the Knights were up 4-0 only three minutes into the game. With a foul on the competition, Reina was awarded a free position shot, successfully getting it through Polytechnic’s goalkeeper. 

With yet another successful draw control, sophomore midfielder Grace Reyna gained possession of the ball and burst through the defense to get past the goalkeeper’s stick. After a successful clear attempt from graduate student goalkeeper Emily DeJohn, the ball went to junior midfielder Dany Emler for another goal. Before the end of the first quarter, the Knights scored five more goals, leaving them at 15-0. 

With the start of the second quarter, Geneseo took longer than the previous quarter to score, as Brown took an assist from Emler with no response from Polytechnic. On the defensive end, Geneseo kept Polytechnic at bay as they scooped up dropped ground balls from their competitors with no goals to answer the Knights’ 18-score lead pre-halftime. 

Freshman goalkeeper Teagan Culhane held her own as the last line of defense. Culhane denied each attempt at goal from the other team, with a little help from the defensive players. With Polytechnic being man-down from another foul, Mahoney got the ball up the field with ease to get it to freshman attack/midfielder Hannah Ruller. 

After half-time, Polytechnic had a successful shot on goal, answering Geneseo’s 18, which soon turned into a score of 19. Reyna grabbed an assist from Brown for a quick flick of her stick to hit the net. Unsurprisingly, Geneseo won each of their draws after their goals forced the opposing team to work harder. Still, Geneseo’s tough defense and talented attackers and midfielders denied the opposing team each time. 

Before the final quarter, Geneseo was up by 21 points, but they were not done yet. They took a rest and geared up for the final 15 minutes. Not even a minute into the last quarter, Emler had another assist, giving the ball to senior attacker Maddie Ugine, who shot the ball to the back of the net. 

Even with the short time that Polytechnic had the ball, Geneseo’s skills proved superior, with an end score of 25-1 in favor of Geneseo. The Knights' next game is Saturday, Apr. 26, against Utica University on home turf in the College Stadium for the last game before the Empire 8 Tournament.