FREDONIA, N.Y. -- When asked if she was excited to enter the world of college head coaching, Marykate Edmunds was effusive. "Words cannot express how much," she said earlier this week, just days away from the start of the 2019 Fredonia women's lacrosse season Saturday afternoon at Mount Union, followed by a Sunday game at No. 25 Denison.

A 2014 graduate of St. John Fisher College, Edmunds spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater before Fredonia came calling last summer. She previously was an assistant coach at SUNY Poly Institute in Utica, N.Y. and the varsity head coach at New Hartford (N.Y.) High School.

The Blue Devils are coming off a 2-14 campaign, including a 1-7 mark in the perennially strong State University of New York Athletic Conference. On the upside, they were 2-2 down the stretch. Eight players return from last year's contingent.

They are seniors Samantha Spiess (Fairport, N.Y. / Penfield) and Jen Kershner (Liverpool, N.Y. / Liverpool); juniors Grace Dalton (West Seneca, N.Y. / West Seneca East), Morgan Sinclair (Rochester, N.Y. / Greece Odyssey), and Madeline Haney (Macedon, N.Y. / Victor); and sophomores Alli Coon (Livonia, N.Y. / Livonia), Julia Nicolosi (Webster,  N.Y. / Webster Thomas), and Melanie Orffeo (Clarence, N.Y. / Clarence).   

Coon had 24 goals and Haney 20 goals last season, tops among the returnees. "Alli and Maddy," Edmunds said, "give us veteran leadership on offense."

The list of newcomers includes freshmen Alyssa Kissel (North Tonawanda, N.Y. / North Tonawanda), Natalie Prims (North Tonawanda, N.Y. / North Tonawanda), and Casie White (Rochester, N.Y. / Irondequoit). "They've had to step into bigger roles," Edmunds said, "probably faster than they imagined. They are respected by their teammates and have been looking good."

Goalkeeping will be the domain of another freshman, Bridget Carey (Rochester, N.Y. / Greece Arcadia), who joined the team late in the pre-season, but showed immediate growth in the Blue Devils' scrimmage vs. Houghton. She succeeds Nicole Burrows, the program's all-time leader in career saves (612), saves in a season (177 in 2018), and saves in a game (28 in a 16-15 win over New Paltz last spring).

"I'm excited to start a new regime with Fredonia lacrosse," Edmunds said. "I'm learning about me and I'm learning about them at the same time. ... We play young and still have a lot of things to learn. But the core is there. We need to stay disciplined and do all the little things right. We'll need to value every possession we have."