Championship expectations surround the area’s high school girls lacrosse teams, especially at Christian Brothers Academy, where June trips to the state final four at SUNY-Cortland have turned routine.
Not far away, at Jamesville-DeWitt, change is in the air. Dennis Kennedy, who found modest success at Tully and with the combined Syracuse team, has taken over for Phil Rudolph, determined to bring the Red Rams to a long-awaited championship level.
On Thursday afternoon, J-D met up with CBA at Alibrandi Stadium, and the gap between the two sides was quite evident as the Brothers blanked the Red Rams in the first half and went on to win by a 15-3 margin.
During those first 25 minutes, it was quickly apparent that CBA, who returns most of its lineup from last spring’s run to the state Class B semifinals, has a deep pool of players to worry about, as in waves they hurt J-D until the margin was 10-0 at the break.
Despite 17 saves from Rams goalie Alyssa Phillips, the Brothers proved too much, and just three players – Amanda Fess, Sam McKenna and Olivia Penoyer – scored twice, with McKenna adding three assists to anchor the attack and Fess also getting an assist.
Rachel Vercillo had a goal and two assists, with Emily Ehle and Lilly Hunt each posting one goal and one assist. Adriana Fess, Morgan Riley, Rachel Ziemba, Hannah Werner, Katie Anderson and Meredith Strott also took turns earning goals. J-D’s goals, all in the second half, came from Bess Murad, Lizzie O’Brien and Riley Foti.
In its opening assignment, the Red Rams visited Homer last Monday night, and it needed strong defense in the game’s latter stages to hang on and beat the Trojans 9-8.
Throughout the game, J-D’s attack featured Caroline Kopp, who delivered five goals. No other Rams player scored more than once, with Meghan Byrnes, Bess Murad, Ali Durkin and Lizzie O’Brien netting one goal apiece.
Up 6-4 at halftime, J-D saw its attack bog down in the second half. Homer, with Morgan Hollenbeck (three goals), Olivia Porter (two goals) and Kim Dieroff (two assists) leading the way, nearly caught up, but the Rams, playing stellar defense in the late going, held on.
