ONONDAGA COUNTY – All that girls lacrosse teams from Westhill and Marcellus wanted was another opportunity to slay the giants in the Section III Class D playoffs.
And the two sides would earn those opportunities through lopsided wins in their respective quarterfinal games on Tuesday as the no. 3 seed Warriros handled Clinton 24-6 and the no. 4 seed Mustangs ripped past Cazenovia 16-4.
Going first in the afternoon, Westhill had some defensive struggles early against its fellow Warriors from Clinton, yet still converted plenty to take an 11-5 lead to halftime.
Cleaning up its back line, Westhill only allowed one goal the rest of the way and kept on adding to its margin, led by Rosemary Mahoney, who set a career mark by scoring six times.
Grace Winkler and Adelaide Lowery each netted four goals, combining for five assists. Kara Rosenberger had three goals and two assists, with Gianna Zerillo, Olivia Gonnella and Carly Dillobaugh earning two goals apiece. Claire Hunter had one goal and one assist.
It was a similar story in the Class D quarterfinal between no. 4 seed Marcellus and no. 5 seed Cazenovia that night, with the Mustangs controlling every phase of the game.
These teams had met April 24 and it had gone 17-3 in Marcellus’ favor. Any thought that the rematch might prove closer dissipated when the Mustangs jumped out 11-2 on Cazenovia by halftime.
Despite goals from Katie Rajkowski, Sammy Sparks, Riley Knapp and Dali Dennison, plus eight saves from Mackenzie Halladay, the Lakers were again humbled by a deep, balanced Marcellus attack.
Five different Mustangs had multiple goals, led by Cece Powell, who scored four times. Anna Spitzer and Quinn Burnett had three goals apiece, with Annalise Bird and Lucy Powell both netting two goals. Kadie Tierney had one goal and two assists, with Claire Card getting one goal and one asist.
Now Marcellus would challenge top seed South Jefferson in the semifinals after the Spartans knocked out Jordan-Elbridge in a 25-1 romp.
The Eagles’ lone goal came from Gabrielle Gunnip in the second half 0 but that was only after South Jefferson pulled off 19 unanswered goals in the first half.
Maddi Barney and Jordyn Batalato each had four goals, with Julia Garvin and Macy Shultz each netting three goals and combining for 11 assists as Karsyn Burnash and Savannah Hodges also had three-goal outings.
In the other sectional semifinal, Westhill would try again to upend a Skaneateles side it lost to by a 16-5 margin just two weeks earlier.
The no. 2 seed and defending champion Lakers handled no. 7 seed General Brown 18-3 in its playoff opener at Hyatt Stadium, taking an 11-2 lead by halftime and continuing to pull further away.
Eleven different players had goals, with Lilly Marquardt picking up five assists as only Anasofia Cirincione scored three times.
Bella Brogan, Ava Logan, Julia O’Connor, Kathryn Morrissey and Kelsey Rutledge had two goals apiece. Brogan added two assists as Ella Bobbett, Paige Willard, Mara Sutton and Emily Huttar also converted.
