CENTRAL NEW YORK – In recent years, it’s proven necessary for the Cazenovia High School girls and boys lacrosse teams to often make use of the artificial turf of Christakos Field at Cazenovia College when it was too wet to play elsewhere.
With the college soon to close, Cazenovia may or may not have those opportunities in the future, so it was fortuitous that Christakos Field was still available last week twice for the girls lacrosse Lakers.
A rain-soaked Sean Googin Sports Complex brought two Cazenovia games to Christakos, including last Tuesday’s battle with Jordan-Elbridge, where the Lakers beat the Eagles 15-6.
Dominant in the first half, Cazenovia shut out J-E, building an 8-0 edge as Julia Reff was on her way to four goals and Madison DeAngelis was gaining four assists, while Eliza Smith stopped everything she faced and finished with 13 saves.
Katie Rajkowski, Riley Knapp and Hayden Bubble each got three-goal hat tricks, Rajkowski adding a pair of assists. Charlie Prior scored twice and Sally Hughes got an assist
When Central Square visited Christakos Field last Thursday night, the Lakers again battled hard, but took a 12-7 defeat to the Redhawks.
Led by Hannah Reichard and Melanya Miller (four goals apiece), Central Square inched to a 6-4 lead by halftime and then doubled Cazenovia’s total the rest of the way.
Not quite able to overcome 10 saves by Redhawks goalie Arianna Bailey, the Lakers still got four goals from Rajkowski and two goals from Bubble, each of them joining Maren Smith in the assist column as DeAngelis had the other goal.
Now facing Christian Brothers Academy on Saturday afternoon at Christakos, Cazenovia got off to a great start and led 8-7 at halftime, only to have it turn around late in an 18-12 defeat.
Rajkowski and Knapp both had three goals, with Rajkowski adding three assists.
Izzy Stromer-Galley scored twice as DeAngelis got a goal and two assists. Prior, Smith and Sally Hughes also found the net as CBA got six goals from Maeve Mackenzie and four goals from Lilah Kirch.
Cazenovia had defeated Chittenango the week before, but the Bears were able to recover last Tuesday and put together a 9-6 victory over the Homer Trojans.
They were tied, 4-4, at halftime, but the Bears took charge down the stretch, sparked by its defense, which kept turning back Homer as Abby Penfield finished with 11 saves.
On the other end, Caitlyn Sgambellone scored four times, with Persephone Rohrer getting two goals. Tomi Newkirk earned four assists as she, along with Cara Kielbasa and Brooke Walters, had single goals.
Two nights later, against the combined Southern Hills squad, Chittenango put up quite a good fight, but wasn’t able to overcome a slow start in a 9-5 defeat.
The Storm led 6-3 by halftime and would ultimately get six goals from Ava Spicer. Only two Bears – Walters, with three goals, and Newkirk, with two goals – converted, with Kielbasa adding an assist. Penfield’s 11 saves equaled that of Southern Hills counterpart Kiera Reed.
Encouraged by this, Chittenango beat Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 15-9 on Friday night, building an 8-3 margin by halftime as Sgambellone led with five goals and one assist, with Newkirk getting four goals and three assists.
Kielbasa scored three times for a hat trick, with Rohrer adding a pair of goals. Sequoya Roberts chimed in with a goalas Walters and Alazayah Smith got assists.
