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Brockport steamrolls conference opposition

By Nicholas Serrata
STAFF WRITER

Photos by Nicholas Serrata, STAFF PHOTOGRAHER Kim Morris (left), Julia Decker (right), and Carrie Kane (bottom left) played instrumental roles in the victories over Oswego (13-2) and Geneseo (12-7). The Golden Eagles are currently on a six-game winning streak.

The Lady Golden Eagles (8-2) took every opportunity to keep their hot streak plugging along as they defeated SUNY Oswego by the score of 13-2 on Saturday, April 14 at home in their third State University of New York Athletic Conference game of the season.

Before the game started, a short ceremony was held for the three seniors who will be graduating this year - defensive wing Courtney Dean, defender Stephanie Spuches and goaltender Ashley Taylor.

“The seniors will be greatly missed,” Brockport coach Traci Lian said. “All three have made a big impact on our team and program.”

Less than four minutes into the game, Dean scored the first goal, leading the domination that kept Oswego’s goaltender Shannon O’Brien on her toes. The Golden Eagles launched nine more goals before halftime.

Sophomore Julia Decker nailed three goals. Junior Carrie Kane and freshman Lexi Goodhart also scored two goals, while freshman Emily Moore and sophomore Kim Morris had one goal each.

Taylor made some sensational saves against the Lakers’ offense. At the end of the first half, Brockport kept the lead over Oswego by the score of 10-0.

“It was a great first half,” Lian said.  “We played well together as a team.”

As the second half was about to start, Oswego was hoping to pull some major strings to get back into the game. However, Kane was ready to help her team out as she grooved around the Lakers’ defense, finding Decker who netted her forth goal of the game at 1:04.

Less than 10 minutes later, Brockport scored another goal on Oswego. The Lakers came to life as Jessica Maltese and Meghan Dooney scored a goal each, preventing a shutout.

With 12:30 remaining in the second half, Lian had Taylor sat for the rest of the game as freshman Stevie Smith finished the game. Freshman Stephanie Lazzar scored the final goal at three minutes before the final whistle.

“It’s pretty hard to get a shutout in lacrosse so I wasn’t expecting the final score to be a shutout,” Lian said. “I was very happy we were able to shut them out in the first half. Ashley had nine saves in the first half alone.”

Kane had two assists as Goodhart and Decker both had an assist each. Brockport’s Taylor made 11 saves and Smith came up with one save. Laker’s Brien saved eight shots. The Golden Eagles had a low 13 turnovers.

Four days earlier, April 10, Goodhart scored four goals as Brockport held on as they beat Geneseo (5-2, SUNYAC 2-1) with a score of 12-7 in a SUNYAC game.

“Our victory over Geneseo was a big win for us,” Lian said.  “We can’t let down for the rest of our conference schedule and we need to take each game one at a time.”

Jenny Baccile opened the score for the first half. The Golden Eagles put in two more goals, but midfielder Maggie Benham bounced back the Blue Knights as she leased a goal against Taylor. Dean found a weakness on goaltender Hannah Mckee. Geneseo was able to score two more goals before the end of the half as both teams were tied with four goals apiece.

Knights midfielder Shauna Leonard challenged Brockport’s defense by finding a soft spot that opened a clear pass to midfielder Colleen Byrne to score in the second half. Golden Eagles responded with two unchallenged goals.

Geneseo quickly scored two unanswered goals. Laura Kitts set up a connection with Byrne as she fired another goal past Taylor. That was the last goal a Geneseo player would score as Brockport went on to score the final four goals that took the Knights’ breath away.

Baccile finished with three goals and two assists, while Kane had one goal and three assists. Morris netted two goals, and Villa and Dean shared a goal each.

Taylor saved 11 shots while McKee made 12 saves. Brockport had 23 turnovers.

By Nicholas Serrata, STAFF PHOTOGRAHER After scoring four goals against Geneseo and two goals against Oswego last week, freshman Lexie Goodhart leads the Golden Eagles in scoring with 24.

The Fredonia Blue Devils (5-3, 1-1 SUNYAC) will be traveling to town on Friday, April 20 as they face the hot Golden Eagles for another SUNYAC game.

“Brockport is a talented team and is one of the better teams in our conference,” Fredonia coach Chris Case said. “For us to beat them we are going to have to play well. Most importantly limit our turnovers and execute our game plan at each end of the field. It should be an exciting game as last year’s game was close.”