Cortland Standard .net

By ALAN BUTLER
Sports Editor
Everything seems to be clicking these days for the SUNY Cortland women’s lacrosse team.
The Red Dragons finished up an impressive week of work by knocking off previously unbeaten Geneseo 17-7 on Saturday afternoon, with midfielder Emma Hayes-Hurley the catalyst to this latest stick success.
Not only did Hayes-Hurley collect a career-high seven goals, she also dominated draws as the Red Dragons’ ball-hogging offense finished with a lopsided 32-14 shot advantage over their SUNY Athletic Conference competitor.
Cortland out-scored three victims by a 55-16 margin for the week, as the nation’s No. 5 ranked Division III squad is now a perfect 3-0 in conference play and 9-1 overall for new head coach Kelly Lickert-Orr.
“We’re finally started to gel,” said team captain Hayes-Hurley after Cortland conquered a Geneseo squad that arrived at the Stadium Complex a perfect 6-0 and ranked 17th nationally.
“It’s a lot of new people, younger girls, so they’re finally starting to step up and everyone’s on the same page. So it’s coming together nicely,” added Hayes-Hurley, a senior from Huntington on Long Island. “We’ve also had seven games in the last two weeks. It’s tiring, but it’s helped us.”
The busy schedule seems to have fine-tuned the offense, Cortland getting three goals from junior midfielder Ashley Gentile and five assists from Kristen Ohberg in this triumph. The Red Dragons scored the opening six goals (as Geneseo made a goalie change and used up a timeout during that opening spurt), were in 11-4 command at the halftime break and breezed through a second stanza when sophomore attack Ohberg collected three of her assists while keeping teammates well-fed.
“I think just really getting outside and getting the reps has helped us because we were stuck inside for so long,” said Coach Lickert-Orr of Cortland’s recent crisp play, as wintry weather hindered pre-season preparation. “Now we’re midway through the season, but we’ve also been outside consistently for a few weeks and it helps.”
“THE DIFFERENCE WAS on the draws today,” said Geneseo coach Carly (Peters) Ritchlin, a former team captain at Cortland who is now in her 12th season directing the Knights. “Draws are everything in lacrosse. It’s all about possession, and Hayes-Hurley was able to draw it to herself pretty much all day.”
Cortland won 19 of the game’s 26 draws.
“I draw to myself and try to keep the same strategy for every single one, and that usually works,” said Hayes-Hurley of her success in that crucial department.
“Our midfield line has been doing their job and they’ve really taken care of the ball, and winning the draws is such a huge part of the game and helps with the transition because we’ve been able to push some fast breaks as well,” said Coach Lickert-Orr.
Ohberg found Hayes-Hurley all alone in front for the opening goal just 1:17 into the game and that pretty much set the tone for their big outings. Unassisted goals by freshman Hannah Elmer and Gentile followed 16 seconds apart for a quick 3-0 getaway and the rout was underway.
Hayes-Hurley had five goals by the time halftime arrived, Ohberg, Nicole Bello and Marilyn Farrell also getting into the scoring act over those opening 30 minutes. Tara Monaghan had two goals and an assist all in the second half, when Elmer picked up her second goal and Hayes-Hurley completed the scoring by weaving her way through the Geneseo defense for goal No. 7 some 2:16 from the finish.
Geneseo got four goals from senior midfielder Liz Felix, while back-to-back first half tallies by fellow senior Katey Hart did make this a 6-2 contest. That was as close as the Knights would come, however.
GETTING OFF TO fast starts of late has also been a nice trend for the Red Dragons.
“It’s kind of opposite to the way we’ve started the season,” said Hayes-Hurley. “We were starting the first few games being down by two or three goals and having to dig ourselves out of a hole, and now I think we’re sick of doing that.”
That’s bad news for the remaining six foes on the regular season schedule, as Cortland heads into another busy week. After home field conference games with Oneonta Tuesday and Oswego Saturday, Tufts arrives from Massachusetts on Sunday for another clash of nationally-ranked squads.
“Every game we’ve seen a little bit more and more, which has been awesome for us because we struggled a little early on with the ball movement and things like that,” said Coach Lickert-Orr of her team’s progress. “Now’ they’re putting it all together and it’s a good time for it.”
Beating Geneseo and Fredonia on consecutive weekends is a good, too, for a Cortland squad chasing after a 17th consecutive SUNYAC title — since those two schools are considered the top squads in the conference with combined 13-3 overall records.
“We know ever year we want to play the SUNYACs here,” said Hayes-Hurley, Cortland now in position to host the conference playoff Final Four scheduled for May 1-2.