Both the men’s and women’s Bison lacrosse teams came out with exciting one-goal wins in their season openers on Feb. 4 against University of Delaware and Robert Morris University, respectively.

The men’s team traveled to Newark, N.J. to take on the Delaware Blue Hens. After a slow start to their game, they trailed the Blue Hens 6-9 at halftime. After Delaware scored two quick goals early in the second half to extend their lead to 11-6, the Bison netted four unanswered goals in the latter part of the third quarter and four more to start the fourth quarter. Sean O’Brien ’18 led the Bison in their comeback, scoring a team-high six goals.

Once the Orange and Blue tied the game in the early fourth quarter, Reed Malas ’19 and O’Brien increased the Bison lead to 14-12, taking the advantage over Delaware for the first time since the first quarter. The Blue Hens scored with 1:14 minutes left to play, but the Bison defense stayed strong and forced a turnover in the final seconds of the game to come out on top. This was the sixth time in program history that the Bison and Blue Hens faced off for their season opener, and the fourth time the Bison came out with a win.

Bison goalie Christian Klipstein ’19 totaled eight saves in the victory. The team returns to Lewisburg to host Bryant University on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, in freezing conditions, the women hosted Robert Morris University for their season opener. They started off the game strong, leading the Colonials 10-2 at half, with eight different players scoring the first eight goals. However, the Colonials came back fighting in the second half to decrease the deficit to 11-10. Goalie Jamie DeWitt ’19 came up with a crucial stop on a shot with one minute to play, and the Orange and Blue managed to hold off the opponent’s rally as the time expired. The Bison won by a score of 11-10.

Maddy Molinari ’17 had a career high 10 draw controls, just one short of tying the school record set by Bonnie Buechel 10 years ago. Audrey Walsh ’19 led the offense with one goal and five assists, while Christina Manis ’17 and Sarah Galzerano ’18 tallied two goals each. Mary Margaret Kenney ’18 led the defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls. DeWitt came up with 12 saves in the contest to hold off the Robert Morris offense.

The Bison are hoping the momentum from this win will carry over to their upcoming match against Villanova, and they will evaluate their performance against Robert Morris to improve for the rest of the season.

“Our season opener was a great game for us to highlight all we have been working on for the past month. With new faces on the field and great senior leadership, we were able to come out and dominate the first half of the game. Though we gave up a great lead in the second half, we still came out on top and are now more aware of the hard work and focus that is needed this week to prepare for Villanova,” captain Lucia Smircich ’17 said.

The women’s team will head to Villanova to take on the Wildcats on Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.