Less than two weeks passed between the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball season’s ending of its state Class A championship season and the commencement of girls lacrosse.
While that was more than enough time for several Red Rams players who star in both sports to make the transition, last Monday night’s game against East Syracuse Minoa on the new J-D turf field, was postponed until later in the spring.
Things were in place on Friday, though, for the Rams to get underway. Ironically, the first opponent was the combined Syracuse city team that J-D head coach Dennis Kennedy led before taking over the Rams in 2015 and leading them to the sectional Class B final.
J-D routed Syracuse 19-3, and three of those basketball stars got on the scoreboard as Meg Hair, Julia Kelner and Bess Murad notched one goal apiece, Murad adding three assists.
Lizzie O’Brien paced the Rams, scoring four times and adding an assist. Riley Burns and Ana Dieroff contributed three-goal hat tricks, with Alyssa Phillips and Lindsay MacLachlan both finding the net twice. Chloe Loewengurth and Katie Lutz joined Hair, Kelner and Murad with single goals.
A day later, Christian Brothers Academy got underway, the Brothers determined to improve on a 2015 season that also saw it reach the sectional finals, in Class A, before falling to West Genesee.
Right away, CBA was tested, meeting Wantagh, from Nassau County, Long Island, in Saturday’s game at Alibrandi Stadium. But a combination of strong defense and an attack that, led by Olivia Penoyer, found its rhythm in the second half led to an 11-6 victory over the Warriors.
Windy conditions made it tough for both sides in the first half, but the Brothers handled it, inching to a 4-2 lead. Then Penoyer took over in the second half, constantly weaving through Wantagh’s resistance and not letting up until she had netted six goals, matching the Warriors all by herself.
Rachel Vercillo often fed passes to Penoyer, finishing with four assists. Maddie Cook scored twice, with Emily Ehle, Claire Jeschke and Amanda Fess each notching one goal and one assist. Sam McKenna also got an assist.
During this busy weekend, ESM went to Cortland Friday and lost, 13-8, not quite able to keep pace with the Purple Tigers, who fought its way to an 8-5 halftime lead and withstood all of the Spartans’ attempts to catch up.
Kate McGarrity, Brigid McGinley and Tatum Kohlbrenner each scored twice, while Bella Talarico and Olivia McEachron had ESM’s other goals. Alexis Filmer added an assist as, for Cortland, Shea Swartout and Maggie Reagan each had four goals, with Jackie Rosetti adding three goals and two assists.
To start its week, Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes visited Onondaga on Tuesday and got off to a slow start – only to recover in the second half and pull out a 10-6 victory over the Tigers.
Unable to get much possession time in the first half, Ludden-Grimes trailed OCS 4-2 at intermission. But once it started getting those draws, it wore the Tigers’ defenses down and, more importantly, showed some nice scoring balance.
Eight different players scored goals, with only Molly McInerney and Rhonee Shea Pal finding the net twice. Katy McInerney, Grace Lambrych, Taj Huddleston, Emma Driscoll, Laura Patulski and Sidney Dobbins notched one goal apiece. In the net, Camille O’Kane recorded seven saves.
This led to Saturday’s visit to Liverpool, a big step up in competition for Ludden-Grimes, who overcame a bad start to make things interesting before taking an 8-6 defeat to the Warriors.
Thanks to Molly McInerney’s four goals and Driscoll getting two goals and two assists, Ludden-Grimes nearly overcame a 7-2 halftime deficit. Liverpool held on because it had a bit more depth, seeing seven different players net goals, with no one getting more than the two put in by Cassidy Hall and Julia Sardella.
