The Buffalo State women’s lacrosse team is starting to hit on all cylinders as a pair of wins over the weekend has them on a three-game win streak.

An 18-13 victory against Allegheny and a dominating 16-7 win against New Paltz that included an 11-0 scoring run were a result of strong offensive outings. Freshman attacker Alanna Herne tallied a career-best 10-point game on Thursday and connected with senior attacker Kendra Thomas on several occasions to score a team-leading four goals.

“We have a balance on our team,” Thomas said. “There have been games where our offense was off and the defense has been there to pick us up and kept us in them.”

The Bengals improved to 4-5 overall and will look to get back to .500 for the first time since March 14 with a win on Tuesday.

“Our team connects very well,” Herne said. “I’m a left-handed attacker which makes it easier to connect with the majority of the team who are right handed.”

The game against Allegheny began as a back-and-forth affair in the first half when Buffalo State jumped out to several two-goal leads, but were unable to pull away as Allegheny responded with two goals of their own from midfielder Kelsey Rodgers. Rodgers scored a game-high six goals on the day. At the half, the scoreboard read 7-6, Buffalo State on top.

“I think we did a nice job putting balls in the back of the net,” head coach Lindsey Abbott said about the Thursday game. “We let in too many goals defensively than I would’ve hoped for, but I think we’re moving forward, and it’s a good thing.”

Defensive struggles persisted as the goaltending pair of senior Colleen George and freshman Megan Doyle didn’t record a save until halfway through the second half. Doyle finished with four saves after taking over in the second half.

“I said to our goalkeeper, ‘you know, not every day is your day,’ and unfortunately she didn’t have the game that she’s capable of, and that happens,” Abbott said. “We put a freshman in because our sophomore is hurt right now, and she did a fantastic job coming up with some saves for our team.”

The second half began in an offensive flurry. 11 Buffalo State goals lifted them above and helped them outlast the Gators.

The offensive prowess continued on Saturday against New Paltz. Like the game before, there was a bit of a back-and-forth scoring to begin the contest as the Bengals scored the first two goals followed by three New Paltz tallies. The Hawks held a 3-2 lead with 21 minutes to play in the first half. From there on, the Bengals found their offensive stride and never looked back.

11 consecutive Bengal goals all but wrapped the game up for Buffalo State and led them to their third straight victory.

“We are finally starting to understand what it means to trust each other on the field,” Thomas said. “The last three games have been a total team effort and the chemistry we have always had off the field is finally transferring on it.”

Thomas believes the confidence of the team couldn’t be better at this point in the season as the team heads into the heart of its SUNYAC schedule.

“I’m very confident in where we are as a team,” Thomas said. “We definitely struggled a little bit in the beginning of the season, but it’s all starting to come together at the right time and I think our team is going to peak at the right time.”

Next up for the Bengals is a contest at Geneseo on Thursday in a game that was rescheduled from March 31. They return home on Saturday and take on Oneonta at Coyer Field.

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