Having tasted enough defeats against the toughest schedule in program history, the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team wasn’t going to let another derail them on the cusp of the Section III Class C playoffs.
Indeed, of all those losses, the Lakers’ 6-4 defeat to Christian Brothers Academy last Tuesday night at Hyatt Stadium may have done the most good, for it showed that, despite all of its troubles, it put a major scare into an undefeated, full-strength opponent sitting atop the state Class A rankings.
Through the years, dating back to when they were both in Class C, Skaneateles and CBA had memorable clashes. Given the Brothers’ position and the Lakers’ litany of losses in the absence of Kyla Sears, this was not supposed to rank among those classics.
Yet Skaneateles made it so. CBA was not able to find any kind of rhythm in its attack and forced to play the game on the terms the Lakers wanted, running into a defense that, led by Lauren Goodchild, Tate Green and Bella Falcone, caused all kinds of problems and took away the Brothers’ team speed.
It was 10-plus minutes before the Brothers got on the board, but it never led at any point of the first half. Twice, Skaneateles scored and twice CBA answered, but Riley Brogan’s goal with 36.6 seconds left in the half put the Lakers in front 3-2 going into the break.
Now it was time for CBA’s defense to take charge. Seniors Kate Derrenbacker, Amanda Fess, Lexi Luthringer and Alexandra Fess all did a tremendous job bottling up the Lakers’ forwards, and Sloane Nicoletti-Watson made five saves.
Meanwhile, the Brothers tied it up, 3-3, less than a minute into the second half, but didn’t take the lead for good until it got goal with 13:32 to play, tacking on an insurance goal less than five minutes later to overcome the eight saves put up by Emily Baldwin.
Mae McGlynn, Olivia Navaroli and Catie Woodruff joined Brogan in the Lakers’ goal-scoring column. Six different players – Rachel Vercilo, Sam McKenna, Emily Ehle, Grace Hulslander, Meredith Strott and Rachel Ziemba – earned CBA’s six goals.Claire Jeschke got two assists.
Two nights later, Skaneateles rolled to a 17-6 victory over Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes, wasting little time asserting control as it bolted to a 10-1 halftime lead and did not let up thanks to an attack where nine different players found the net by game’s end.
McGlynn and Hannah Logan led with three goals apiece, but it was Emma Goodell tops in points thanks to her two goals and two assists. Molly Newton and Abby Kuhns also had two-goal outings as Navaroli, Jessica Patalino, Christina Ciaccio and Sophie Kush got one goal apiece. Brogan joined Kush and Newton in the assist column.
At 9-6 following the win over Ludden-Grimes, Skaneateles only had left Wednesday’s game at Penfield, with the sectional Class C playoff pairings released a day later.
