Fredonia State's women's lacrosse team earned a bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament Sunday night, giving it a chance to continue its most successful season in program history.
"It's been a season of firsts," Fredonia State head coach Chris Case said. "And I think we continued that (Sunday) with a bid to the National Tournament."
The Blue Devils (14-4) will host St. John Fisher (14-4), which beat 20th-ranked Ithaca (12-3), 9-7, Sunday for the Emipire 8 Conference title.
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Amy Simon and her Fredonia State teammates earned an at-large bid to the NCAA?Division III women’t lacrosse tournament Sunday night. The Blue Devils will host the St. John Fisher Cardinals, on Wednesday, at University Stadium. The time of the game has yet to be decided.
"I just know they're a good team," Case said of the Cardinals. "They have a good coach, they've been playing really good down the stretch, and we're going to have to a really good team on our hands Wednesday. And we're going to have to be ready to play."
The Blue Devils have the option of choosing a starting time for the game, which will be played Wednesday, at University Stadium. Early indication has the game beginning at 7 p.m.
"We're just going to try and have two good practices and just go out there and play the best we can," Case said. "I think our team is capable of winning if we play well."
Fredonia State, which lost to arch-rival Buffalo State, 16-13, Friday in the SUNYAC semifinals will begin the process of learning about its opponent today.
"I need to get a few tapes on St. John Fisher and see what they do and teach some of the tactics they use so we can be ready for them," Case said.
"We're going to go through some of the things we didn't do well in the semifinals," Case continued. "And one of the things we didn't do well was draw controls and we're going to have to fix that."
With the tournament bid, five seniors - Karli Brinthaupt, Morgan McNamara, Sara Ceraso, Megan Mietelski and Amy Simon - have the chance to extend their season at least one more game.
"Right now I'm just ecstatic like all of our players," Case said. "And we're grateful for this second chance and we're going to make the best of it."
