All through the last Saturday of April, most of the area’s high school lacrosse teams engaged in high-profile contests, including a doubleheader between Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy at Alibrandi Stadium.
The Hornets won both sides of the twin bill against the Brothers, while the Jamesville-DeWitt boys earned an impressive 10-4 home win over West Genesee hours after the girls Red Rams fell to the Wildcats 6-4.
Of all the games, F-M’s girls battle with CBA might have produced the best action, given that it pitted two reigning Section III champions (the Brothers in Class A, the Hornets in Class B) that both featured lineups with plenty of skill.
Off to a 9-0 start this spring and coming off a hard-fought 10-9 win over West Genesee two days earlier, F-M prevailed again here as the game with CBA went back and forth throughout the contest.
Every time the Brothers tried to catch up, the Hornets would counter, anchored again by the sister tandem of Kiera Shanley, who had five goals to give her 35 for the season, and Katie Shanley, who amassed six assists to run her season total to 26.
Gemma Addonizio contributed three goals for F-M as Annie Steigerwald, Amanda Cramer and Ava Angello had two goals apiece. Maddie Noel had one goal.
CBA featured three goals and three assists from Claire Jeschke and five goals from Olivia Penoyer, with Grace Hulslander getting three goals and one assist. Anna Ziemba and Amanda Winn had the other goals. Both goalies – Mauwa Aombe for F-M, Iris Vinal for CBA – finished with seven saves.
When the boys contest between F-M and CBA got underway, the Hornets, who had lost three in a row, turned it around and put a halt to the state Class D no. 3-ranked Brothers’ run of five straight wins.
They were tied, 1-1, when Chris Lubrino scored just before the first quarter ended. Sparked by that, F-M dominated the second quarter, blanking CBA and extending its margin to 5-1.
Not until it was 8-3 going to the fourth quarter did the Brothers make any kind of serious push, which proved too late. Nick Papa, with four goals, paced the Hornets as Lubrino had three goals and one assist.
Tommy Farry and Sam DiChristina had F-M’s other goals, with Mike Howe and Zach Nestor earning assists. F-M’s pair of goalies, Ben Hammond and Jack Van Valkenburgh, made 12 saves between them as CBA got two goals apiece from Preston Taylor and Ryan Mackenzie, with single goals by Patrick O’Brien and Wyatt Auyer.
Later that night, the J-D boys lacrosse team, who beat F-M exactly one week earlier, would jump all over West Genesee in a fine all-around effort.
After goals by Ryan Vespi and Ryan Drotar pushed J-D in front in the opening minutes, WG found itself unable to answer it, kept from even getting a shot throughout the latter stages of the first quarter.
Then J-D made it worse early in the second quarter. Back-to-back goals by Johnny Keib, plus tallies from Tyler Brang and Will Davis, extended the Rams’ lead to 6-0 by the middle of the period.
Even when WG cut the margin to 6-2 by halftime, the Red Rams answered it, stretching the margin to 9-2 in the third period, out of the Wildcats’ reach as Keib finished with three goals and one assist.
J-D’s depth was on full display as seven other players – Drotar, Vespi, Brang, Davis, Griffin Cook, Pat Murad and Matt Kemmis – earned single goals, Cook getting two assists as Drotar added an assist.
Going for a similar big win, the J-D girls could not pull it off at West Genesee, seeing the game turn after Elise Mancabelli scored just 41 seconds before halftime to erase the Rams’ 3-2 advantage.
By the time the Rams scored again, WG was in front for good. Riley Burns had two of J-D’s goals, with the others going to Ana Deiroff and Riley LaTray as Lindsay MacLachlan got an assist. Goalie Skyler Constantino made eight saves.
The East Syracuse Minoa girls had a 6-1 record going into Saturday’s game against Central Square, yet was upended by the Redhawks in a 13-11 defeat.
Down 10-6 at halftime, the Spartans tried to rally as Rileigh White had two goals and four assists and Taylor Filmer got three goals and one assist. Kelly Thomas and Julianna Barton also scored twice as Bella Talarico and Katie Andrus had the other goals.
Central Square held on, though, as Courtney Fox (five goals, one assist) and Emma Robinson (four goals, one assist) accounted for most of the Redhawks’ production, overcoming nine total saves from ESM goalies Anna James and Cara Miller.
