It only figured that the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team would, once again, have to climb over its feisty, hungry neighbors from Marcellus to get back to the Carrier Dome for Tuesday’s Section III Class C title game.
Yet few, if any, previous post-season encounters between the Lakers and Mustangs had quite the same excitement as what transpired in Thursday night’s semifinal at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium.
On the brink of seeing its reign as sectional and state champions come to an abrupt end, Skaneateles saved itself just in time as the proven duo of Kyla Sears and Hannah Powers delivered down the stretch and the Lakers escaped the clutches of the Mustangs in an 11-10 classic.
For most of the 50 minutes, it looked like Marcellus would not just compete with Skaneateles, but vanquish them while gaining as big a win as the program had ever achieved.
The irony was that, unlike years past, Marcellus and Skaneateles didn’t meet in the regular season. That only seemed to add to the anticipation because, as dominant as the Lakers appeared at times this spring, it still had to prove itself to the Mustangs on the field.
They traded goals through most of the first half before Audrey Cerrone converted at the 17:01 mark to break a 3-3 tie and put Marcellus in front. The lead grew to 5-3 before Skaneateles tied it again, only to see Marcellus move back in front, 6-5, just before the break.
Winning five consecutive draws at one point, Marcellus was able to possess the ball for long stretches of the second half, and stretched its lead to 9-6, forcing the Lakers to use a time-out. By then, Cerrone had three goals, with Ally Burrows and Maddie Conklin adding two goals apiece.
After the Lakers moved within one, 9-8, the Mustangs worked the ball around until Grace Coon, with a nifty move that fooled Skaneateles goalie Allison Weiss, flung the ball into the unoccupied net with 2:34 to play, inching the Mustangs closer to its long-awaited conquest.
Just 20 seconds later, though, Sears, who had just one goal to that point, converted to cut the margin back to one, and Skaneateles won back possession, working it until Sears netted her third goal with 1:28 left and it was tied again, 10-10.
Claiming the ensuing draw, Marcellus wanted to take the last shot of regulation, but Skaneateles forced a turnover and worked it around until Powers flung a shot past Sarah Annable with 12 seconds left, sending the Lakers to the sectional final.
That was Powers’ third goal of the game, matching Sears. Prior to the homestretch, it was Abby Kuhns and Hannah Logan, with two goals apiece, leading the Lakers as Catie Woodruff got three assists and Molly Newton had one goal and one assist. Weiss and Emily Baldwin combined for 10 saves, three more than Annable.
Two days before that, Skaneateles entered the post-season fray with another ferocious assault against no. 8 seed Homer, overwhelming the Trojans in a 21-4 rout.
During the first half, the Lakers attacked at will, and converted most of the time, not letting up until the clock was running and it owned a 13-2 lead.
Sears again was productive, managing five goals, but 11 different players would find the net by game’s end, including Powers and Herr, who each got three-goal hat tricks as Powers added three assists.
Emma Goodell emerged as a threat, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists. Logan and Woodruff each had one goal and one assist, with Newton, Tate Green, Elizabeth Lane and Mikela Terhune also finding the net.
Nothing that transpired in this game offered a hint at the drama that was to unfold against Marcellus in the next round.
But the Lakers got through it, and now faces no. 3 seed General Brown in next Tuesday’s sectional final at the Carrier Dome after the Lions used a second-half surge to beat no. 2 seed South Jefferson 17-12 in the other semifinal. General Brown, like Marcellus, has never won a sectional title before.
