The SUNY Buffalo State Women’s Lacrosse team fell, 16-4, to the SUNY Geneseo Knights in their last home game of the season on Wednesday at Coyer Field.

The Bengals got off to a slow start as Geneseo, who was coming off a big overtime win over nationally-ranked Cortland, had a commanding 6-0 lead halfway through the first stanza with goals by Maddie Lee, Jacqui Thorsen, Mallory Max, Hannah Marafioti and two from Megan Henderson quickly put a damper on the mood.

The domination continued through the first half as the Bengals were outshot 25-5 and turned the ball over 14 times to the Knights’ six. At the half, the score read 11-0.

“When we were going into the game, I said ‘our outcome is based on how we react to negative things that are happening during the game’,” Bengals head coach Ashley O’Brien said. “We have had a little bit of a struggle in doing that.”

To start the second half, it seemed like this message was instilled in the players as Geneseo seemed to cool off while Buffalo State began to find more opportunity on the offensive end. But the opportunities didn’t amount to many shots as Geneseo’s defense was constantly able to step in and force a turnover.

Senior attacker Nina Schaefer got Buffalo State on the board with 12:43 left in the second half off an assist from senior midfielder Jackie Dufresne. About two minutes later, junior attacker Mary Musialowski put the ball in the back of the net off a free attack.

With 7:15 left, Schaefer was able to get on the board again off an assist from senior attacker Kendall Skuse. Junior midfield Hannah Nagowski was also able to get on the board with 1:31 left in the game.

The game marked the final time Schaefer, Skuse, Dufresne and Tori Debbins will step on the turf surface at Coyer Field.

“It’s sad that it’s our last game but we played super hard and everyone gave it their all,” Skuse said. “I am very proud of everybody.”

With the assist on Wednesday, Skuse has amassed 71 points with one game left in the season.

“We knew it would be a tough game, (Geneseo) is the best team in the league right now,” Schaefer said. “Our intentions were to go in hard, be strong, hold our ground, stay composed and just be able to give the best we could offer regardless of the score.”

The Bengals’ season will come to an end on Saturday as they’re on the road to take on the 2-14 Plattsburgh Cardinals. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.