Right after the Cazenovia field hockey team handled Holland Patent last Wednesday to earn yet another Section III Class C championship, attention turned to the Class C-D final Saturday at Rome Free Academy Stadium, where the Lakers would reunite with Weedsport to see who advances to the state tournament.
With a 3-2 victory over Morrisville-Eaton/Hamilton, Weedsport earned its first sectional title in 19 years. And since Weedsport played Cazenovia to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 22, it was expected to provide the challenge the Lakers didn’t have to worry about against Holland Patent.
And it did provide a challenge – for the first half, anyway, until the Lakers’ attack started roaring again, after which it turned into yet another scoring showcase for Cazenovia, not letting up until it had put away Weedsport 6-0.
This game followed the exact pattern of the sectional Class C semifinal against Little Falls on Oct. 26, when the Lakers had to wait through most of the first 30 minutes before getting on the board, but then erupted in the latter stages to beat the Mounties, also by a 6-0 margin.
Weedsport, like Little Falls, would keep the game 0-0 through much of the first half, with plenty of shots turned away by Warriors goalie Abby Marsden, who had six saves in the half.
But just when it seemed that a repeat of the tense September affair was at hand, Sarah Willard, with less than seven minutes left in the half, fed a pass to Rachel McLaughlin, whose shot eluded Marsden and gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
Barely a minute later, Willard took her turn with a goal, and though Weedsport called time-out, and kept the margin at 2-0 going into halftime, the Lakers would not get stopped.
Again, the tone was set by defenders Sarah Liddell, Meredith Shephard, Josie Chiarello and Maddie Langey, who rarely let Weedsport get close to goalie Kimber Nourse and made sure the Lakers’ attackers had plenty of possession time.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, the rout started as McLaughlin, off a feed from Zoe Shephard, netted her second goal. Seconds later, a penalty corner led to hat trick for McLaughlin, with Willard picking up her second assist.
Remarkably, Willard had a hand in five different goals. Not only did she find the net a second time with 19:01 to play, which made it 5-0, she assisted on Gabby Yates’ goal that rounded out another productive effort from the potent Lakers.
All of this leads to the state tournament. In 2014, the way the state bracket is set up, Cazenovia must win a pair of regional games this week – first against the champions of Section II, and then against the champions of Section IV, in order to reach the state final four, set for Nov. 15-16 at Maine-Endwell High School, near Binghamton.
