FREDONIA, N.Y.—As first-year's, Denison's 2018 senior class faced off against Fredonia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they eventually fell, 10-5 to the Blue Devils.  Three years later, it was a much different story as 24th ranked Denison opened the 2018 season with a convincing 20-3 victory over Fredonia.

With plenty of expectations surrounding the Big Red in 2018, their opener could not have gone much better.  Fredonia scored the first goal of the game, but DU responded with the next six goals to take a 6-1 lead with 21 minutes to play in the first half.  At halftime, DU held a 13-3 lead over the home team.

In the second half, the Big Red outscored the Blue Devils 7-0 to complete the 20-3 victory.

A second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection as a rookie, Kiely Noonan scored six goals and added two assists while Claudia Rafi led the team in goals with six.  Leah Israel filled the stat sheet with two goals, one assist, seven draw controls, four ground balls and three caused turnovers while Maddy Heher finished with two goals and a game-high five assists.  Becca Jones got the start in goal and finished with seven saves while facing 10 shots.  Hannah Magarian posted one save while playing the second half.

Denison dominated the shot category, 40-14 while nearly doubling up the Blue Devils in ground balls, 22-13.

Fredonia was led by Casey Villagomez who finished with two goals. Sophie Jones posted nine saves while playing all 60 minutes.

Denison (1-0) will host Redlands on Thursday, March 1 at Piper Stadium with the opening draw set for 4 p.m.