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SUNY Fredonia athletes have ups, downs on Homecoming weekend

Women’s volleyball takes down New Paltz, Plattsburgh

ONEONTA — The Fredonia women’s volleyball team completed its conference schedule by sweeping Plattsburgh and New Paltz on the final day of Pool Play on Saturday.

The Devils finished in second place in the SUNYAC at 8-1, one game behind Brockport. The Devils only loss came 3-2 at the hands of the Golden Eagles.

The team will head into the SUNYAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed in a six-team field in two weeks.

“A bye into the semis,” said head coach Geoff Braun “is something we really wanted and worked hard for.”

The Devils easily handled Plattsburgh in the first match of the day, winning in straight sets, 25-5, 25-12, and 25-15. Kristen Stanek and Kailey Falk led the team with 13 kills apiece.

Rachel Poirier had three service aces. Hallie Christopher had 37 assists.

Emma Falk had four blocks and Courtney Poirier had 13 digs.

The Devils won the second match of the day, 3-1, over New Paltz. Set scores were 25-16, 15-25, 25-20, and 25-14.

Kailey Falk led the team with 16 kills and 13 digs, and Stanek had 15 kills. Christopher again produced 37 assists.

Rachel Aiello and Courtney Poirier each had 16 digs, and Emma Falk had four blocks.

“I am very proud of the team for their performance this weekend,” said Braun. “We stuck with our style of play and kept pressure on our opponents with our serving game and ball control. Hallie had a strong weekend running the offense and really stepped up her defensive game, too.”

Fredonia now stands at 17-9 overall. The final home game of the season will be Tuesday vs. Medaille in Dods Hall. The Devils will have a final tune up for the post season next weekend at the New York Regional Challenge.

Women’s soccer loses to Oneonta

ONEONTA — Fredonia’s 2017 women’s soccer season drew to a close Saturday with a 5-0 SUNYAC loss at Oneonta.

The setback left the Blue Devils with a 6-11-1 record overall and a 2-6-1 mark in the conference. They failed to make the six-team conference tournament.

Oneonta controleld the play through the game and had a 30-6 advantage in shots and a 7-0 edge in corners kicks.

Julie Steihauer had two goals and one assist to lead the Red Dragons, who improved to 5-4 in the SUNYAC and 6-9-1 overall. Racherk, Chrstina Korfeld, and Abby Ousouljoglou each had a goal.

Kendall Owczarzak started in goal for Fredonia and finished with 10 saves while giving up four goals. Melissa Muller of Oneonta made two saves to earn the shutout.

It was the final collegiate game for the lone Fredonia senior, captain Audrey Yokopovich. Yokopovich is also a member of the Blue Devil women’s lacrosse team.

Men’s soccer fell to Oneonta; elminated from playoff chance

Fredonia fell to No. 7 ranked Oneonta, 2-1, Saturday afternoon at University Stadium. The loss eliminated the Blue Devils from the SUNYAC post-season picture.

Up 1-0 at halftime, the Blue Devils (8-7-2 overall, 2-5-2 SUNYAC) were unable to hold off the Red Dragons (12-1-2 overall, 7-1-1 SUNYAC), who’ll enter the upcoming conference men’s soccer tournament as one of the top two seeds. Fredonia finished seventh, two points short of the sixth and final playoff seed.

Cory Stantangelo and Nicholas Plate had the Oneonta goals and goalkeeper Nicholas Giardano made three saves for Oneonta. Dylan Moeser scored for Fredonia and goalkeeper Ty Bentham made 12 saves, several of them spectacular.

“Today,” Blue Devil head coach P.J. Gondek said, “we were going up against one of the powerhouse teams in the nation. We sure battled with them for a long time but unfortunately in the second half we had a mental block and gave them a couple of goals.”

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead into halftime on a goal Moeser’s second goal of the season two seconds into the 16th minute. Following a corner kick into the box by Matt Belardi, Moeser and Conrad Rathbun took headers that Giardono stopped. Moeser cleaned up the play with a short blast inside the left post.

The lead lasted only four minutes into the second half as Santangelo made it 1-1 on a header off a high cross by Plate in the 49th minute. The Red Dragons grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 60th minute on a breakaway goal by Plate.

The Blue Devils nearly scored the equalizer in the 87th minute when Rathbun fired a low shot from the right wing which glanced off the opposite post. Ryan Ross then blasted the rebound over the top of the net.

It was the final time in a Fredonia uniform for five seniors: Ross, Dan Griffin, Aaron Hayes, Eric Priester (Jamestown), and captain Dave Trabold. Priester missed the entire season due to injury but remained part of the program. A sixth senior, Parker Healy, missed most of the second half of the season due to an injury.

“There are six guys who are no longer with our program and they were with us for some time,” Gondek said. “That’s always a tough thing.

“I said to the guys after the game, we had nine spots to fill this year, so that was always going to be a monumental task. And to make it even harder, we replaced a lot of those experienced players with freshmen. And we had a few injuries. Not having Parker all season long made things even tougher. He was probably one of the most dangerous players in the league.

“While I would never call a season where we did not make the playoffs a success, we sure had some cool moments. Winning the two early season tournaments and we had some overtime wins that made things fun. Plus, having so many freshmen play this year should really help us down the line.”

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