POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam women's lacrosse team (4-4, 1-0 SUNYAC) defeated SUNY Fredonia (0-6, 0-1) 12-4 on Friday afternoon in its SUNYAC opener. The victory was the Bears first ever over the Blue Devils. Senior captain Rachael Huntley (Canton, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) led Potsdam with a game-high six points on two goals and four assists. Junior captain Cayla O'Connor (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) scored three times and sophomore midfielder Alexa Ferrer (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) and senior midfielder Danielle Pound (Henderson, N.Y./Immaculate Heart) each added two goals. Junior goalie Katie Longamore (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) made eight saves for her seventh career win.

Both defenses gave up little to nothing over the first 12 minutes of the contest, but the Bears slowly revved up their offense. Huntley set up sophomore attack Ashley Burrowes (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) for the opening tally at 18:31. Just over 10 minutes later Pound scored with another Huntley helper, before Huntley struck with a solo effort at 6:43 for a 3-0 advantage. Fredonia freshman defender Alli Coon (Livonia, N.Y./Livonia) got the Blue Devils on the board at 5:04, but O'Connor countered with two in a row for a 5-1 lead at the break. She scored a man-up goal at 2:48 and an even-strength marker 35 seconds later.

Fredonia started off strong with a goal just 46 seconds into the second half. Sophomore attack Madeline Haney (Macedon, N.Y./Victor) closed the gap to 5-2. The Bears answered with markers from freshman midfielder Zoe Morgenroth (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) at 27:10 and Pound at 25:31 for a 7-2 advantage. Huntley notched her third assist on Morgenroth's goal. Fredonia made a final push with goals from Coon and Haney at 23:40 and 17:55, but they wouldn't get any closer as Potsdam rattled off the last five goals of the game. Huntley scored at 16:23 and Ferrer buried two straight at 11:07 and 10:03 for a commanding 10-4 lead. Huntley set up junior defender Meghan Paige's (Carthage, N.Y./Carthage) man-down goal with 7:27 to play. O'Connor completed her hat trick with 30 seconds left.

Fredonia senior goalie Nicole Burrows (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) put in a solid effort with 12 saves.

In addition to her three goals, O'Connor totaled a game-high seven draw controls and four caused turnovers to go with a team-best four ground balls.

The Bears outshot the Blue Devils 32-15 and collected 23 ground balls to Fredonia's 19.

Potsdam continues conference play on Tuesday afternoon when the Bears host Oswego State at 4 p.m.