CORTLAND, N.Y. - The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Lacrosse Championship first round has come to end. The Brockport Golden Eagles in front of their home crowd were able to move on with a dominating 17-8 victory over the New Paltz Hawks. As well, the Oswego Lakers, also at home, won 17-15 in a hard fought match against the Oneonta Red Dragons. The semifinals are set for May 3 with Oswego taking on Geneseo at 12:30 p.m. and Brockport taking on Cortland at 4 p.m. at Geneseo.
Brockport was able to strike first and go up 1-0 with an unassisted goal from Sarah Grapevine (Corning, N.Y.) at 25:57, but New Paltz tied it up in the same minute with a goal from Katie Zito (Glenmont, N.Y.) assisted by Maddy Carullo (River Vale, NJ). Both teams grabbed a second goal for a tie score of 2-2, but it was at this point that Brockport took over and went on an 10-0 run to finish the first half with a score of 12-2. Heather Conklin (Penn Yan, N.Y.) for Brockport was a huge factor in this lead as she had four goals in the first half. New Paltz knew they would need to get the offense rolling in the second half.
New Paltz did score more goals than Brockport in the second half, six to Brockport's five, but the lead was too much to overcome. Heather Conklin neted her fifth goal of the game at 17:54. Conklin was not the only Golden Eagle to have multiple goals, two others had three goals and another two each added two of their own. Brockport was able to find the net when they needed it and the final result of 17-8 sees them into the SUNYAC semifinals where they will travel to Geneseo and take on the No. 2 seeded Cortland Red Dragons.
Oswego was able to best Oneonta 17-15 in a back and forth matchup that saw five lead changes in the first half. The Lakers got on the board first with a goal from Molly Beck (Mexico, N.Y.), but the Red Dragons answered right back with a goal from Victoria Varone (Commack, N.Y.) assisted by by Kelsey Cohen (Baldwin, N.Y.). There was a tie at 2, 4, 5, and 6 with the first half score ending at 8-6 with Oswego leading.
Both teams continued to put goals on the scoreboard and Oneonta was able to tie the game at 10-10, but that is as close as they would come. Oswego went up by as many as five and was able to close the game out with a final score of 17-15. The Lakers had seven players with multiple goals inlcuding Teresa Shattuck (Syracuse, N.Y.) who had three goals and added four assists. Oswego moves on to the SUNYAC semifinals and will travel to Geneseo to take on the No. 1 seeded Knights.