Then, Fredonia regrouped after a lengthy intermission to honor its nine seniors and righted the ship.

The Hillbillies scored three times in the second half to come away with a 4-1 victory over the Marauders on Tuesday in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West girls soccer game under the lights at SUNY Fredonia.

“Basically, the message was we didn’t have the effort,” said Fredonia head coach Dan Tomaszewski of his speech to the team after the first half. “I think it was a big moment, and we struggled with that a little bit, but we found a way to grind it out.”

One of the key forces in Fredonia’s second-half resurgence was senior captain Annie Gondek, who tallied a goal and an assist in the final 40 minutes of the victory, on her Senior Night, against rival Dunkirk.

Fredonia’s Rylee Beers (14) fights for possession with Dunkirk’s Angelina Piede (1) during Tuesday’s game. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

“It’s unreal, honestly. As a freshman, I never thought I would be in this place. It’s gone by really fast,” Gondek said after the game.

A night earlier, the same two teams met in Dunkirk for the Marauders’ Senior Night. The contest was a lopsided 6-0 Fredonia victory. Tuesday’s game was far more competitive, as Dunkirk rebounded and gave Fredonia its best shot.

Dunkirk (3-8, 0-7) had the game’s first two notable scoring chances, both around the 10th minute of play. Fredonia’s senior goalkeeper Sarah Davis neutralized the early threat to give her team the chance to take the lead.

“I think we had more chances (than Fredonia) early in the game,” said Dunkirk head coach Chris Piede. “I was super proud of the girls. They brought it today. Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Fredonia (8-4, 6-3) pulled ahead 1-0 in the 20th minute of play after a free kick by Gigi Ferro into the box connected with Sophia Gullo in traffic for the game’s first goal.

Dunkirk's Lauryn McCraken (17) celebrates her goal just before halftime with teammate Angelina Piede (1) during Tuesday's game against Fredonia. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

Still, Dunkirk would not go away and immediately responded with pressure of its own. Within a minute of the Fredonia goal, Dunkirk sent a bouncing ball just wide of the Fredonia net. Then, four minutes after the Fredonia goal, Lauryn McCracken pulled away from the Hillbillies defense and let off a strong shot, but Sarah Davis was there again for a stellar save.

Within the final 10 minutes of the half, Fredonia had more opportunities to score, but Dunkirk’s senior goalkeeper Tayler Skelly kept Fredonia’s lead to only one goal.

“Tayler Skelly made some amazing saves. There was one in the first half that was just riding that line,” said Piede.

As the first half neared its end, McCracken once again pulled away from the Fredonia defense, but this time she delivered. McCracken rifled a shot from distance beyond Davis and into the center of the net to tie the score at 1-1 with just less than two minutes left to play in the first half.

“They know they can play with anyone,” said Piede after the game. “They brought it today.”

But from that point on, it was all Fredonia. The Hillbillies tallied three goals in the second half — first by Ella Koopman to take the lead, next by Gondek to extend the lead to 3-1 with 10:45 left to play, then finally Gullo finished off the night with her second of the game to bookend the five total goals of the contest with two minutes left to play.

“The mentality changed,” said Gondek of the halftime adjustments. “We knew we needed to be better. We picked it up and we won.”

Dunkirk, with only one substitute for the entire contest, looked like an entirely different team in the second half after putting up arguably its best fight of the year in league play.

“We just ran out of gas. When Fredonia is rolling out three to four subs every couple minutes and I have one sub, we just ran out of gas is what I think it came down to,” said Piede. “We’re doing the best with what we’ve got.”

Both coaches credited the other team for their efforts in the rivalry contest, which is as friendly of a rivalry as Dunkirk-Fredonia can be. The two coaches spend time coaching many members of both teams in the offseason.

“It’s a nice group of girls on both sides. We like playing against and with the Dunkirk girls all summer long,” said Tomaszewski. “We’ve got a lot of tight bonds and it’s always fun to play them.”

Those tight bonds were not broken by consecutive Dunkirk defeats at the hands of Fredonia.

“Congrats to all the seniors on both sides. … I coach a lot of (Fredonia’s players) so I was happy to see those faces. I hope they do well the rest of the way,” said Piede.

Dunkirk has four league contests remaining the rest of the regular season as the Marauders look for their first win in league play.

Fredonia, coming off last season as Section VI co-champions, has three more league games to play over the next two weeks to close out the regular season. The Hillbillies play Olean on Thursday.

“This team is pretty special. After last year, it’s hard to follow in those footsteps, but I think we’ll be OK come playoffs,” said Gondek.