BRADENTON, FLA.—The SUNY Potsdam women's lacrosse team (1-0) opened the season with a 16-13 victory over Emmanuel College (1-1) on Monday afternoon at the Spring Fling Tournament in Bradenton, Fla. Senior attack Bri McClusky (Watertown, N.Y./Immaculate Heart) led all scorers with nine points on three goals and a career-high six assists. McClusky is now two assists behind Carly Richards '12 to become the program's all-time leader. Junior attack Murphy Newman (Canton, N.Y./Berkshire School) also matched a career-high with five goals.
 
Newman opened the scoring with an assist from McClusky just one minute into the contest and McClusky got her first 21 seconds later to make it a 2-0 game. After a Saints' goal, McClusky set up junior attack Katie Lapinski (Canton, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) at 26:21 and Newman notched her second at 25:15. Emmanuel responded with a 6-2 run, including two goals each from Emily Baker and Sarah Higgins, to grab a 7-6 advantage with 5:50 to go in the half. McClusky set up sophomore attack Rachel Huntley (Canton, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) at 18:05 and Newman netted her third at 12:54 during the stretch. The Saints' lead was short lived as McClusky evened the game at 4:06, igniting a 5-0 run that carried into the second half. Newman scored the final two of the opening 30 minutes at at 2:07 and with five seconds left. Lapinski assisted on the latter and the Bears led 9-7 at the break.
 
Freshmen Meaghan Paige (Carthage, N.Y./Carthage) and Cayla O'Connor (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) and junior attack Nicole Damon (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) scored three of the first four goals of the second half to extend Potsdam's advantage to 12-8 with 20:11 left to play. After an Emmanuel goal, McClusky set up senior defender Maggie McCabe (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) and junior midfielder Michaela Cole (Parishville, N.Y./Parishville-Hopkinton) to give the Bears their biggest lead of the day at 14-9. The Saints closed the game with a 4-2 run, but goals from McClusky and Cole iced 16-13 win.
 
In goal, junior Devan Olschewske (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) made 14 saves to earn her ninth career victory. Lauren White stopped eight shots for Emmanuel. The Saints edged Potsdam in draw controls 18-13, but the Bears picked up 12 ground balls to the Saints 10.
 
Potsdam is off tomorrow, but then faces Baldwin Wallace at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and Wheelock at the same time on Thursday to wrap up its Florida trip.