The Buffalo State women’s lacrosse team fell 21-8 to the No. 4 Cortland Dragons Saturday at Coyer Field, but had a post-game celebration anyway. Potsdam fell to Fredonia, meaning the Bengals clinched the sixth and final SUNYAC playoff seed. The Bengals finished the regular season 4-11 (2-6 SUNYAC) and earned their first playoff berth since 2012.

The Bengals didn’t want to count on that happening, and knew a win over Cortland would secure the final payoff spot regardless of the Potsdam-Fredonia game outcome.

The game was well-contested early on with gritty, back-and-forth play and limited scoring. 12 minutes into the game, the scoreboard read 4-3 in favor of the Dragons. Cortland took over the game shortly after, finishing the game on a 17-4 run.

Freshman attacker Alanna Herne posted a team-leading six points, five goals and an assist, adding to her impressive freshman year. No other Bengal netted more than one goal.

“My teammates make me better and the coaches are never satisfied,” Herne said of her success.

Senior goalkeeper Colleen George played a complete game in net and stopped 11 shots.

“Cortland is one of the best teams we have seen and we played hard until the very end,” senior attacker Kendra Thomas said. “We only had 11 turnovers, and that shows a large improvement from previous games. During the first half of the game, we controlled the ball really well on offense and that will help us a lot.”

The Bengals played in honor of Molly Seifritz on Saturday, who played at Buffalo State from 2006-2009. Seifritz passed away after a battle with cancer on March 2, 2013. On April 13 of that year, Buffalo State and Cortland wore “Team Molly” shirts during warm-ups. Every matchup between the teams after that has been dedicated to her memory. Buffalo State wore special neon green jerseys in her memory for the game on Saturday.

“Our game was dedicated to Molly Seifritz who passed away a couple years ago, and we showed some heart out there, which was exciting to see,” head coach Lindsay Abbott said.

The game was a homecoming for Abbott, who played at Cortland from 2009-2012 and served as the assistant head coach for the program last year.

“I’m proud of them, the program and all of the girls, but obviously I still want to come out and compete against them,” Abbott said. “It’s my alumni [sic], but I still want to compete against them and show them what I’m doing with Buff State now.”

When the clock struck zero and the announcement was made over the stadium speakers that Potsdam had fallen to Fredonia, what could have been a scene of disappointment and sadness ended up being one of joy and laughter. It was almost as if both teams had won.

When the teams lined up to shake hands, Abbott hugged each one of her former Cortland players. The Buffalo State players teased them, saying, “she’s ours now!”

Buffalo State will take on third-seeded Geneseo on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs.

Tony Callens can be reached by email at [email protected]