Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

The Bison women’s lacrosse team fell in its season openers against two nationally ranked opponents. The Orange and the Blue fell in their home opener against Stony Brook 20-5, and later suffered an 18-2 loss on the road to Penn State.

Against No. 18 Stony Brook, the Bison fell behind 2-0 after the first seven minutes of regulation. A goal by Emily Kookogey ’15 on a free position shot suggested a change in momentum for the Orange and the Blue, but Stony Brook proceeded to score four more to assume a 6-1 lead. After a couple of goals by Cori Thielemann ’15 and Emily Becker ’16, the Stony Brook offense exploded for 12 straight goals to turn a 7-3 lead into 19-3 blowout. Sam Rickels ’16 and Katelyn Miller ’14 rounded out the scoring with two late goals as the Bison suffered their first defeat of the season.

Goalie Caroline O’Neill ’15 allowed 18 goals in 52:27 of play, but also recorded 10 saves for the Bison.

“We started out very strong. Our goalie had one of the best games of her career and the defense looked very solid,” Miller said. “However, Stony Brook was very aggressive and we had a difficult time translating on offense.”

Things were not any easier for the Bison against No. 9/10 Penn State. The offense was shutout during the first half, while Penn State rattled off 13 straight goals in the game’s first 35 minutes. The Orange and the Blue got on the scoreboard with back-to-back goals by Kookogey and Madison Hurwitz ’13, but that was it for the Bison as Penn State finished with off the game with five more goals.

“Penn State [was] expected to be just as good, if not better than Stony Brook,” Miller said. “These two games [were] much harder than any game we expect to see in our conference so this is great preparation for us.”

The women’s lacrosse team will look to get back on track as they travel to Johns Hopkins to face off against the undefeated Blue Jays Saturday at 4 p.m.