CAZENOVIA, N.Y. – The SUNY Poly Women's Lacrosse Team (13-3, 8-1 NEAC) brought home their first NEAC Championship in program history on Sunday afternoon with a win over host and top-seeded Cazenovia College (11-6, 8-1 NEAC). With the win, the Wildcats secure the NEAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
SUNY Poly squared off with Cazenovia for the second time in as many weekends following last Saturday's overtime win. That win forced a three-way tie with Caz and Morrisville, landing Caz the one seed and SUNY Poly the third after several tiebreakers. The championship game looked as though it would play out the same when both teams were held scoreless for the first 18:17.
However, the Wildcats were first to strike today when Corrina Marconi (Rochester, N.Y. / Gates-Chili HS) broke through Caz's defense with a tough drive to net. Cazenovia answered just over a minute later to tie things at 1s. The Wildcats weren't ready to let things play out the same as last weekend as they scored the final two goals of the half to hold the 3-1 advantage of at the break.
The second half started much like the first with neither team finding the back of the net for the first 11:28. This time Mari Ames (West Carthage, N.Y. / Carthage HS) got on the board with an unassisted tally and added another goal four minutes later to put her team up 5-1. Cazenovia added their second goal with 12:16 to play to cut the lead to 5-2.
The rest of the game saw stellar defensive play from SUNY Poly and four goals in the final ten minutes. Serota scored all three of hers in that span including two 43 seconds apart. Cazenovia added two goals in that span to play to a final score of 9-4.
Meghan Serota (Black River, N.Y. / Carthage HS) and Ames recorded three goals apiece. Krysta Beha (Marcy, N.Y. / Whitesboro HS) finished with a goal while Marconi finished with two.
Erica Maisonet (Walkill, N.Y. / Walkill HS) led the defense with career-highs and game-highs of five ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
Megan Will (Remsen, N.Y. / Remsen HS) was phenomenal between the pipes turning away six of 10 shots.
Serota was named the tournament MVP for her outstanding effort over the weekend. The midfielder finished with seven points on six goals and an assist.
The NCAA selection show will take place tonight at 9:30 pm where SUNY Poly will learn who and where they will play later this week. The selection show will be streamed live at www.NCAA.com.
