CENTRAL NEW YORK – Impressive victories, mixed with a bit of friendly family battles marked an important week for the Christian Brothers Academy girls lacrosse team.
Back on Tuesday night, it was CBA going to Marcellus, and the Brothers were more than ready for the Mustangs, dominating in all phases of the game on the way to a 16-6 victory.
Spreading its attack around in an effective manner, CBA built a 9-4 advantage by halftime and then doubled up that margin, led by Maeve Mackenzie and her five goals.
Lilah Kirch and Ryann Murphy both had three-goal hat tricks, while Sydney Vaughn had two goals and two assists. Emery McCartney also scored twice and tacked on an assist, while Mia Arcuri had the other goal.
CBA then topped Chittenango 17-4 Thursday night, sprinting to a 14-0 edge by halftime as McCartney scored four times. Vaughn got four assists as she, along with Mackenzie and Kirch, had three goals apiece.Madison Ceclia got three assists.
All of this led to Saturday’s game against surprising Syracuse City, who arrived with a 6-0 record – and coached by Dennis Kennedy, the father of CBA defender Kristina Kennedy. The younger Kennedy enjoyed this game more.
The Brothers led 11-0 by halftime and prevailed 15-3, with four-goal outings from Mackenzie and Kirch plus three goals from Carmella Fairbanks as McCartney added two goals and one assist.
The most difficult part for Fayetteville-Manlius, even as it demonstrated improvement from its 2023 struggles, was the sheer volume of competition it faced.
When the Hornets rallied to beat Jamesville-DeWitt in overtime on April 12, it was amid a stretch where it played five times in 10 days, bridging defeats to Watertown and Indian River.
Then F-M (no. 20 in the first state Class B rankings of the season) lost again last Monday against Section V’s Rush-Henrietta, falling 15-8 in a game where, again, it could not produce much outside the duo of Juilianna Cogliandro and Taylor Novack.
Cogliandro finished with three goals and two assists, while Novack scored twice and got two assists. Otherwise, it was just single goals from the trio of Brooke Southwick, Addison Keyes and Katrhyn McNany as Micaela Jennings, in goal, recorded 10 saves.
All this brought some urgency to Thursday night’s game against Baldwinsville, who was still looking for its first win in 2024.
The Hornets denied the Bees this in a 14-13 classic, overcoming a 9-7 third-quarter deficit with a 7-1 run led by Cogliandro, who finished with five goals, and Novack and Keyes, who both scored three times as Novack added three assists.
Down 14-10, B’ville almost caught up in the final minutes, but F-M held on, with each of Jennings’ 13 saves crucial. Southwick managed a goal and two assists as McNany and Aubrey Burke also converted.
J-D had also gone through its share of early-season adversity, starting 1-4, but it began to turn things around last Thursday against Auburn, pulling away to beat the Maroons 17-10.
Merris Kessler’s five goals and one assist led the way. Lillian Wells scored three times, with Caroline Stone, Brooke Bort and Margaret Bliss getting two goals apiece. Stone also got two assists as single goals went to Ella Parker, Taylor Keehfus and Lacey Phaneuf. Lucy Keib finished with eight saves.
On Saturday, J-D got its turn against B’ville and shut down the Bees in a 10-5 victory, Keib stopping eight of the 13 shots she faced as, in front of her, Kessler netted three goals and Stone scored twice. Bliss, Bort, Withers and Alexis Scaramuzzino each finished with one goal and one assist.
East Syracuse Minoa found itself in yet another close, exciting contest last Tuesday afternoon against Clinton, this time on the receiving end as it fell to the Comets 9-8.
Having beat Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and Chittenango by one-goal margins to improve to 3-2 overall, the Spartans found itself meeting a Clinton side it beat 10-9 in the March 26 season opener.
The rematch was just as tight, Sophia Ferris and Jordis Aldrich each netting three goals and Liliana DiNatale scoring twice. But the Comets overcame Sara Godleski’s 12 saves with goals from six different players, two each by Dakota Deveans, Leah Altieri and Taylor Kitterman as Deavans and Altieri both added a pair of assists.
Then ESM lost 16-6 to Central Square on Thursday night. Only Aldrich scored twice, with single goals going to DiNatale, Ferris, Anna Paduano and Abigail Cain. Melayna Miller led the Redhawks with five goals and two assists.
