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Bengals win fourth straight, look to stay hot in Florida
By Leif Reigstad
On March 20, 2013
The Buffalo State lacrosse team set a few goals heading into their last game. One was to avoid
an early deficit, something that plagued the Bengals in their previous two games. Another was to
hold their opponent to 10 shots.
In a 14-1 win over Oberlin on Friday at Coyer Field, the Bengals reached those goals - and then
some.
The Bengals led 4-0 just 10 minutes into the game, and conceded only one goal on eight shots in
their best defensive performance, statistically, since at least 2006.
Junior midfielder Niki Paulhardt started off the scoring for the Bengals less than two minutes
into the first half, followed by a goal from junior midfielder Jenn Shaddock a minute later.
Senior attack Ashley Caporizzo then scored from the free position.
Renee Glass, also a senior, scored about four minutes later to make the lead 4-0 and all but
guarantee that Buffalo State would not have to work itself out of another early hole.
With a little under 19 minutes left in the half, Oberlin recorded their first shot on net, only to be
denied by sophomore goalie Colleen George. Grace Barlow managed to sneak one by George
five minutes later, scoring five-hole for Oberlin's only goal of the game.
Sarah Kirchberger answered with two goals less than a minute apart. Paulhardt assisted on the
first. On the other, George whipped an outlet pass to a Buffalo State midfielder, who then swung
the ball out wide to a charging Kirchberger. The senior attack made a run to the net and scored
on a shot to the bottom-right corner of the net.
With 1:23 to go in the first, Glass scored to make it 7-1.
The start of the second half echoed the start of the first, with Paulhardt and Shaddock scoring the
first two goals.
Later, junior attack Becca Martinez scored off a feed from Glass from the free position to give
the Bengals a 10-1 lead. With 20 minutes left, Paulhardt scored from the free position for her
third goal of the game.
The Bengals cruised in the final 12 minutes behind goals from Kendra Thomas, Kirchberger and
Kimberlee Carr.
The Bengals put together their most complete game of the season Friday. But head coach Meg
Stevens sets the bar high for her team, and believes the Bengals still need to work on their
consistency and decision-making.
"I think we're getting closer, but I don't think we're there yet," Stevens said. "I think we'll go
against tougher competition in the next few games, which is good, and see if our girls can step up
when the level of competition goes up. There are still so many areas where we want to improve
- there's a lot to learn. But it's still early in the season."
This early in the season, the Bengals have already improved one aspect of their game.
Against Elmira and Roberts Wesleyan, Buffalo State fell behind early and had an uphill battle -
albeit only for the first five minutes of the game. But after the first five minutes against Oberlin,
the Bengals were working with a 3-0 lead.
"We had a gut-check, really," Stevens said. "We did some goal setting before the game and I
put it out there as an expectation and I think they expected better - we cannot come out against
good teams going in the hole. You need to be able to come out strong and we said we needed to
do this before this week's game. It was great to see."
Kirchberger attributed the difference in the first five minutes to an improved pregame mindset.
"Our attitude changed," Kirchberger said. "Our warm-up was better, faster. In the locker room
everything was more upbeat. We were more ready to play."
Once on the field, the Bengals controlled every facet of the game. They outshot Oberlin, 31-8,
held a 24-15 advantage in ground balls and won 14 draw controls to their opponent's three.
"We had a lot of turnovers, but we were moving the ball better than we normally do," Paulhardt
said. "We had a lot of good cuts and feeds. They were in a backer zone, so it was easy for us,
since we're a good passing team, to break apart the zone."
"On defense, basically what is key for us is communication," she added of the team's defensive
play. "We were communicating really well, just meshing well together. The slides were there
and we were definitely making body contact. And our goalie played awesome."
For her efforts in Friday's game and a Bengals' win earlier last week, George was named
SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Goalie of the Week. George made five saves in the game and said
she can't remember ever allowing just one goal in a game.
"It's something really hard for a goalie to do because this is such a high-scoring sport," George
said. "But it feels pretty good. It's always nice to be recognized."
The Bengals next three games will be in Florida for their spring trip that stretches March 21-27.
Stevens said the trip comes at a key time, with SUNYAC play starting as soon as they get back.
"Florida is great team time," Stevens said. "It's spring training, obviously it'll be great to get out
of the weather a little bit, but it should be a great experience. Teams that get along well off the
field will play well on the field together."
It may still be snowing next week in Buffalo, but by then, the Bengals will have already touched
down in the land of sun and sandy beaches.
"I'm so excited," George said. "It's going to be nice to play in some warm weather."
Leif Reigstad can be reached by email at reigstad.record@live.com and on Twitter
@LeifReigstad.
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