Fredonia clinched the No. 2 seed into the SUNYAC Tournament with its 18-12 home women's lacrosse win Tuesday over Buffalo State at University Stadium.
The Blue Devils -- ranked No. 17 by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association -- pulled away with a 7-0 scoring run over eight minutes midway through the second half. Emily Polizzi (Rushville, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) had three goals, Kristie Kleine (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) two goals and one assist, and Katie Kleine (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) and Marissa Cussins (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post West) one goal each during the run.
The Blue Devils led 3-0 before Buffalo State broke through. The Bengals pulled within two goals at 3-1, 4-2, 6-4, and 7-5 during the first half and at 8-6 early in the second half before the Blue Devils gained the upper hand.
Katie Kleine finished with five goals, Cussins with four goals and three assists, Polizzi with four goals, and Kristie Kleine with three goals as Fredonia improved to 13-2 overall and 6-1 in the SUNYAC, one game behind conference-leader Cortland.
Katie Kleine also had six ground balls, five draw controls, and three caused turnovers. Audrey Yokopovich (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) had one goal, one assist, five draw controls, four ground balls, and four caused turnovers. Kristie Kleine was credited with four draw controls.
For Buffalo State, Sarah Larusso had five goals while Alanna Herne had three goals and three assists.Larusso gathered six ground balls, Cassie Saint-Vil had five caused turnovers, and Alexis Wilensky five draw controls. Colleen George was credited with seven saves. The Bengals dropped to 4-10 overall, 2-5 in the conference.
Fredonia closes out its regular season with a SUNYAC home game Saturday against Potsdam.
In addition to nailing down the No. 2 playolff berth, the victory also enabled the Blue Devils athletics teams to claim the first-ever Battle By The Lake rivalry with Buffalo State, based on points earned throughout the school year in 16 sports.
