Returning virtually intact, and motivated by an early post-season exit a season ago, the Marcellus girls lacrosse team made an emphatic opening statement for 2013.

The Mustangs, hosting Tully Tuesday night, leaned on a potent four-pronged attack that proved far too much for the Black Knights to handle as it prevailed by a score of 19-9.

In 2012, Marcellus suffered a first-round Class C playoff loss to Cazenovia. The disappointment of that 14-13 decision was tempered for head coach Dick Lundblad by the knowledge that the vast majority of his roster was composed of juniors.

Just two seniors – Alanna Todd and Faith Seeley – are gone from that team. Everyone else, from front-line stars like Molly McGuane, Grace Nolan and Lexy Bird, to star goalie Renee Poullott, are back. It also helps that two-time defending sectional champion CBA got pulled up to Class B, perhaps opening the door for a Mustang title run.

At the very least, Marcellus started out well, at least on the offensive end. The first half against Tully was shaky for both defensive sides, as Allison Bolt (who finished with four goals) and Ally McNerney (who added three goals) kept the Black Knights close.

Despite that, Marcellus led, 10-7, at the break, and it started to win the draws on a regular basis in the second half, wearing down Tully’s defense and continuing to product at a high rate.

Nolan, still a junior, led the way, scoring six times and adding an assist, while sophomore Ally Burrows contributed four goals. McGuane and Bird had fine all-around efforts, each of them finishing with three goals and three assists.

Audrey Cerrone found the net twice as Emily Hennigan picked up one goal and one assist. Poullott, after her early struggles, started to make more stops and had 10 saves overall.

A week of further practice followed for the Mustangs, and it returns to action April 5 against Cicero-North Syracuse, leading up to an April 8 playoff rematch with Cazenovia.

As that went, Westhill and Jordan-Elbridge opened their respective seasons. The Warriors, back under the direction of coach Tim Alberts, went north last Wednesday to face General Brown and had to fight hard for a 12-11 victory over the Lions.

All season long, Westhill is playing with heavy hearts after the traffic accident early on the morning of March 2 that took the life of Anna Pullano, a senior who was a member of the lacrosse team and slated to play again this spring.

Turning its attention back to the game itself, Westhill got in early trouble against General Brown, falling behind 6-2 in the first half before a big push late in the half tied it, 6-6.

After an exchange of goals early in the second half, the Warriors grabbed a 12-9 lead in the latter stages and held on with some late stops from goalie Gretchen Krzykowski, who finished with seven saves.

Emily Mizer, with five goals, and Nicole Easterly, with four goals and one assist, accounted for most of the Warriors’ attack. Shelby Stack had a goal and two assists as Maggie Tripodi added one goal and one assist and Ryann Liable also scored. For the Lions, Bryanna Fazio had four goals, with Miah Rowland and Emily Amell each scoring three times.

Jordan-Elbridge, who also suffered a first-round Class C playoff defeat in 2012 (to LaFayette), began its season Thursday, hosting South Jefferson, and were in it all the way to the final minutes before taking a 12-11 loss to the Spartans.

All game long, it proved tight. The usual opening-game mistakes plagued both teams, so it was little surprise that J-E and South Jefferson went to halftime tied, 5-5.

The pace picked up in the second half, though, as the Eagles mostly leaned on veteran stars Kali Kimak and Kelsey Youmell. Kimak poured in five goals, while Youmell had four goals and one assist.

On the Spartans’ side, Morgan Alexander proved tough to stop, landing six goals, none more important than when she took a pass from Clarissa Perry and found the net with 2:08 left in regulation for what proved to be the game-winner.

Perry, for her part, had three goals and two assists to support Alexander. Behind Kimak and Youmell, J-E teammates Torey Kopp and Marissa Malvaso each had one goal, while Gabby Thorpe earned two assists. In goal, Morgan Conroy recorded eight saves.