IWLCA DIVISION III WEEK 10 RANKINGS
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- Fredonia State will meet Geneseo at 3 p.m. Friday in the semifinals of the SUNYAC women's lacrosse tournament at Cortland.
The Blue Devils, ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division III by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association, are the No. 2 seed among the four remaining teams. They take a 14-2 record into the tournament.
Geneseo is the No. 3 seed. The Blue Knights, 11-4 overall, received votes yet did not crack the Top 20 in this week's IWLCA poll.
The teams met once during the regular season. The Blue Devils were 9-8 winners at home April 9 in a see-saw game with nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than one goal.
Junior midfielder
Katie Kleine (Cazenovia) had four goals, junior midfielder
Marissa Cussins (Elmira) had two, and senior midfielder Rachael Reinus (Webster) scored the game-winner with 11:20 left, while senior goalkeeper
Casey Chiesa (Baldwinsville) made seven saves in the previous meeting. The Blue Devils will be without the services of Kleine this time around due to a season-ending injury sustained April 21 at Brockport.
Cussins has emerged as the leading scorer for the Blue Devils with 66 points -- 53 goals and 13 assists. The idled Kleine is next with 65 points, followed by Reinis with 44, sophomore attack
Katie Glagolev (Webster) with 39, and senior midfielder
Kaila Fox (Clifton Springs) with 27. Kleine (57), Cussins (44), and Reinis (30) have been Fredonia State's top players on draw controls.
In addition, Kleine (25) and Cussins (24) are the top Blue Devils in causing turnovers, followed by Chiesa with 22 and junior defender
Mary Bruton (Palmyra) with 20. Chiesa has a team-high 54 ground balls -- Kleine has 40, Cussins 39, and Reinis 37 -- in addition to her goalkeeping record of 14-2 with an 8.24 goals against average and a .478 save percentage.
In the other SUNYAC semifinal, the tournament host Cortland Red Dragons (16-1) will entertain the Brockport Golden Eagles (12-5) at 12:30 p.m. Friday. The Red Dragons, ranked No. 4 by the IWLCA, have won every SUNYAC title since 1999 -- a string of 14 straight championships, while the No. 4 seed Golden Eagles -- who also received IWLCA votes this week -- advanced to the semifinals with a 14-10 victory over Oneonta in a first-round game Tuesday.
The championship game will be played at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
NOTES: The Blue Devils are appearing in the SUNYAC Tournament for the second straight season. They were defeated by Buffalo State 16-13 in the semifinal round last year, then fell to St. John Fisher 9-8 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament ... Geneseo holds a 16-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams. The only two Fredonia State wins were this year and last year.
