By: Brayden Peters
CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles women’s lacrosse team’s playoff run came to an end after being defeated by Cortland 15-7. The Golden Eagles attempted a comeback in the third quarter but were kept at bay by the Red Dragons.
“I’m really proud of the way they fought,” head coach Bryana Glasser said. “I’m proud of the way that they played the game. I’m proud of the integrity and respect that they showed in this game and I’m really, really excited for what’s to come.”
In the first quarter, Cortland held complete control, scoring five unanswered goals. Toni Cashman and Amy Hoeffner were credited with two goals each out of the five. The Red Dragons also played lockdown defense, preventing Brockport from creating any high-quality scoring chances.
Also playing aggressive on the ride, Cortland made it difficult for Brockport to clear the ball out of their defensive zone. The Golden Eagles went 1-5 for clears and gave up five turnovers, two of them from bad passes on clear attempts.
Cortland added to their lead in the beginning half of the second quarter, thanks to Emma Dempsey. She weaved her way through three defenseman and buried the ball in the bottom left corner of the net.
Brockport’s offense woke up with 7:10 left in the quarter. Alayna Foos drove up the right wing and buried a shot down low past goalie Margret Morgan. The goal brought much needed energy to a dormant Golden Eagles offense.
Brockport also started to take better care of the ball, cleaning up their struggles on the clear. In the second quarter, the Golden Eagles went 3-4 on the clear.
Although Rachel Janis helped extend Cortland’s lead to 7-1, Brockport responded. On a free position shot, Sarah Kilburn ripped a shot near the top right corner of the net to give the Golden Eagles their second goal of the game. Before the quarter ended, Cashman scored for Cortland, completing the hat trick with only 27 seconds left.
Going into the second half, the Golden Eagles changed their mentality, especially the upperclassmen.
“We just really had to prove to everyone and our underclassmen that this is doable,” Foos said. “They’re beatable and we could put up a fight.”
Brockport looked like a completely different team in the third quarter. The Red Dragons started things off with Hoeffner’s second goal of the game to give Cortland a 9-2 lead. Then, the Golden Eagles began to play their best lacrosse of the game.
They scored two unanswered goals, both of which came from Foos to complete the hat trick. Brockport’s defense also stepped up. Communication on slides greatly improved, along with approach angles, allowing the Golden Eagles to keep the Red Dragons out of the hole.
Cashman brought the goal deficit back to six after burying a right sidearm shot past Arianna Reed. However, Brockport came back with a goal of their own. Burnash drove her way from the left wing towards the crease and shot the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
Burnash added another goal to her name to start the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to four goals. It was the lowest deficit that Brockport had since the first quarter.
Hoeffner responded to Burnash’s goal by scoring one from the hole on the woman up for Cortland. Then, Davis threaded the needle with one of her shots. She had a defender covering her and managed to sting the top right corner of the net to bring the deficit back down to four goals.
The Golden Eagles then ran into penalty trouble, which ended up coming back to haunt them. The Red Dragons proceeded to score four unanswered goals and two of them came on the woman up. One of the others came from a free position shot and the last goal was an empty netter, as Brockport pulled their goalie Reed to add an extra attacker.
With that goal streak, Cortland was able to come away with the 15-7 win, ending Brockport’s season. Cortland will move onto the SUNYAC championship to take on the defending champions Geneseo.
Brockport ends the season with a 10-7 overall record and a 6-3 SUNYAC record. The Golden Eagles will likely say goodbye to Burnash, who completed her fifth year. She ended the season with 42 goals and 41 assists for 83 points. Senior Julia Quinlan has remaining eligibility, but questions remain about whether she will use it. Regardless, Glasser was happy to coach both players.
“Their leadership is hinted on,” Glasser said. “They just show up, they work hard, they set the standard. They’re going to be part of this program forever, and I’m really, really proud to have had the opportunity to coach them.”
“They just have such a presence leadership-wise and talent-wise,” Foos said. “It’s going to be hard to replace them.”
The Golden Eagles will hope to add more depth to the team for the next upcoming season. Not only that, but the team hopes the underclassmen will step up and continue to improve, as Brockport is moving to the Empire 8 Conference next season.