VERONA – When the Cazenovia field hockey team entered the turf at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill School on Sunday afternoon, the hope was that, when it exited, it would do so with a return trip in a week’s time in its plans.
But Mount Markham interrupted those plans.
Through 60 rain-soaked minutes of regulation and much of an overtime period, the no. 2 seed Lakers and no. 3 seed Mustangs waged a scoreless battle in the Section III Class C semifinals.
No matter how may chances it got, though, Cazenovia could not get a goal, and late in that first extra period Little Falls got the break it wanted – and converted it to prevail by a score of 1-0.
Some part of what happened may be attributed to the Lakers not playing for more than a week since beating Homer in its Oct. 12 regular-season finale.
Meanwhile, Mount Markham had gone through a sectional quarterfinal, also against Homer, winning it 4-0 to get its opportunity against Cazenovia.
Having seen top seed Clinton hold off Canastota 3-2 in the first semifinal, the Lakers and Mustangs proceeded – and it was quickly apparent that any goal in this game would be precious.
Through all four of the 15-minute quarters, Cazenovia pushed hard, yet could not solve a Mount Markham defense anchored by goalie Haylee Lee.
Of course, the Lakers’ own defenders were doing just as well, and it remained 0-0 as regulation ended and the two sides went to a seven-on-seven OT period.
Getting more opportunities with more room to roam on the field, Cazenovia still couldn’t find the game-winner. Then, just before the first extra period ended, the Mustangs got its own breakaway – and Lexi Wolfe, the team’s leading scorer with 19 goals, put it past Maddy Rothfeld.
With that, the Lakers’ season ended with an 11-3-2 record. When it returns in 2024, it will be without a large senior class.
That includes Rothfeld, leading scorer Reid McMurtrie (who had 22 goals and five assists), Meghan Mehlbaum, Margaret Huftalen, Grace Kingsley, Abryenne Duerr, Maya Gilmore, Lucille Hagan, Jordan Bradley, Bella Fazio, Olivia Franks, Zosia Synborski and Mimi Uzcatague.
