WESTFIELD, Mass. -- SUNY-Geneseo's Megan Cook scored three goals, including a pair back-to-back in the second quarter that gave the Knights the lead for good, as the 25th-ranked Knights held off Westfield State, 11-9 in the Spring Fling at Panama Beach, Fla. on Thursday morning.
Westfield dips to 3-1 with the loss, while Geneseo is now 2-2.
The Owls got on the board first with a marker from Emma Cretella just 1:41 into the game.
The two teams were tied at 2-2 after Westfield's Cassidy Harvey's free position shot with 6:50 left in the first quarter.
From there, the Knights tallied three unanswered goals ads Alaina Reina netted an unassisted goal with 4:08 left in the first quarter, before Cook scored back-to-back goals in the first four minutes of the second period to give Geneseo a 5-2 lead, which would be their largest of the game.
Cretella tallied her third goal of the game with 1:47 left in the first half to trim the lead back to 6-4 at the half.
In the second half, the two team largely traded goals. Westfield cut the lead to a single goal on three occasions, but couldn't equalize the game.
Cook's goal at 10:01 of the fourth quarter got the Geneseo lead back to three, at 10-7.
Westfield's Nicole Rinkus tallied with 3:59 left to get the Owls within two at 11-9, but could get no closer.
Maggie Rosaschi made seven saves for Geneseo, which entered the week ranked number 25 in the IWLCA national poll, while Sydney Smith stopped nine shots for Westfield State. The Owls finish the Florida trip with a 1-1 record. They return home to face RPI in a non-conference game at Alumni Field on Monday, March 20 at 5:00 p.m.