By: Aiden Locke
The Brockport Golden Eagles women’s lacrosse season started with a bang on Sunday. The Golden Eagles rallied late to beat the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets 12-11 in overtime.
The largest lead held by either side was just two goals. This matchup was as back and forth as you can imagine. Graduate attacker Cassidy Burnash recorded a hat-trick in the win. Her third tally slotted her into 10th place all-time in program history in goals. First-year attacker Tristan Davis had a hat-trick in her first game as a Golden Eagle. Junior midfielder Alayna Foos also had a hat-trick with all three goals coming in the fourth quarter including the game-winner in overtime.
“That’s when I really start to click,” Foos said. “When the pressure’s really on that’s when I'm at my best but we couldn’t have done it without every single person on the field today.”
The first quarter of action saw both teams strike in the first five minutes. Sophomore attacker Heidi Donovan opened the scoring just three minutes in. Her goal came off a hard drive with a nice face dodge to open up a clean shooting lane. Burnash would respond on Brockport’s next possession on a free position shot. Donovan and Burnash would each score the second goals for their respective teams in the first quarter as well. Davis would give Brockport a one-goal lead heading into the second quarter off a great finish from a free position shot.
The second quarter would be a similar story. Back-and-forth action, a mix of great looks offensively and smothering defense from both sides. The three Rochester goals would come from three different goal scorers. Burnash would complete her first-half hat-trick less than three minutes into the second quarter from a free position shot.
“We’re a little bit more versatile on the offensive end than we’ve been in the past,” Brockport head coach Bryana Glasser said. “It’s really exciting that we get to distribute the ball more and have more people step up in big moments.”
The third quarter would see just four goals split evenly between Rochester and Brockport. Davis would cap off her three-goal afternoon with an assist from junior midfielder Paige Thowe. The third quarter saw the best defense from both sides including three big saves by Brockport first-year goaltender Arianna Reed. She finished the game with 15 saves and a .577 save percentage. Brockport midfielder and captain Julia Quinlan scored her first of the year for Brockport with just three seconds on the clock in the third quarter.
“She (Reed) was killing it today,” Sophomore defender Journey Naab said. “She (Reed) was talking to us, communicating, keeping us confident and she had some awesome clears today.”
The fourth quarter saw the game turn into a classic. Both teams would record four goals, from three different goal scorers. Rochester sophomore attacker Alyssa Gorny, U-of-R’s highest-scoring returner netted two big goals after a slow start to the game. Gorny had six goals in Rochester’s season opener against SUNY Oneonta on Feb. 21.
Foos would eventually step up in the biggest moment for Brockport as she scored the game-tying goal with just 26 seconds left on the clock.
“The trust factor is huge,” Glasser said. “We really stress the idea of the process and just trusting it, play by play and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.”
Overtime saw both teams possess the ball in the offensive zone. Brockport won the OT draw control and set Foos up on a play. She cut to the front of the net off a pick and mishandled the inlet pass. She later scored the game-winner on a similar set-up 2:18 into the extra session.
Burnash led all players with six points (three goals, three assists) with Foos netted five points. Brockport will now turn its attention to what’s ahead. Clarkson University will make the trip from the north country to take on the Golden Eagles on Thursday, Feb. 29 with the opening draw control scheduled for 4 p.m.