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Youthful Blue Devils women’s lacrosse begins 2020 season

Marykate Edmunds’s first season as Fredonia State women’s lacrosse head coach in 2019 was a rebuilding project without all the pieces. Her roster was thin to begin with – before a series of injuries made it thinner.

There were games when there were only two healthy players in reserve, which made it impossible to substitute in the midfield and match up against opponents, many of them in the always-strong SUNYAC (which had three teams in the Top 20 pre-season poll by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association). The end result was a 4-13 season, 1-8 in the conference, and a season-long goal-differential of almost 2 to 1.

Filling out the roster was Priority No. 1 for Edmunds heading into the 2020 season. Mission accomplished. The Blue Devils have 24 rostered players, 17 of them either sophomores and freshman, heading into the first game of the season Saturday afternoon vs. Albright at the SUNY Poly Tournament in Utica, N.Y.

“The difference from last year to this year,” Edmunds said, “is our depth and having young players who are able to contribute right away.”

As many as five sophomores and three freshmen could be in the starting lineup Saturday. Other newcomers will be some of the first players off the bench.

The lone senior slated to start is Madeline Haney, now in her fourth season and a consistent scorer in her previous three. Haney led the Blue Devils with 35 goals in 2019 from her attack position. Meanwhile, returning junior attack Allison Coon was the top play-maker with 22 assists to go along with 27 goals. Coon’s 49 points led the team.

Other potential returning starters are junior midfielder Sarah English and five sophomores: attack Alyssa Kissel, midfielder Natalie Prims, midfielder Casie White, defender Tessa Brady, and defender Kayla Purcell, whose injury-shortened season included one game as goalkeeper.

This season, the keeper duties will fall on freshman Emily Carr, who’ll make her first collegiate start Saturday. She’ll likely be joined in the starting lineup by freshman midfielder/attack Bri Emery, freshman defender Ally Kilburn, and junior midfielder Julia Nicolosi, who has lost the last two seasons due to injury.

The top reserves will be a mix of old and new – senior defenders Grace Dalton and Morgan Sinclair along with three freshmen: defender/midfielder Julie Culver, attack Erin Woods, and defender Sadie Brown. “Continuing to develop the younger players,” Edmunds said, “will be one of the keys of our team’s success.”

With all the new players, there will be growing pains and – in the words of the head coach — “ups and downs.” The measure of success will be measured in other ways. “It’ll be improvement in the box scores,” Edmunds said, “plus collective and individual growth.”

The first test comes Saturday.

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