A quirk in the girls lacrosse schedule meant that Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa would face each other twice in a span of four days.
Having already beaten the Spartans 18-6 on May 6, the state Class C no. 8-ranked Red Rams did so again last Tuesday night, pulling off a second-half shutout on the way to claiming an 18-3 victory.
ESM could find its only success in the first half, thanks to goals by Rileigh White, Kelly Thomas and Emma Biel, with Sophia Orlando earning an assist, but from there J-D shut them out, with six combined saves by Skyler Constantino and Emma Silverstein.
The Rams kept adding to its margin as seven different players earned multiple goals, with Katie Lutz at the forefront thanks to her four goals and one assist.
Lindsay MacLachlan augmented her pair of goals with four assists as Ana Dieroff, Kailey McKenna, Riley Burns, Chloe Loewenguth and Jordan Archer each scored twice. Lily Loewenguth and Emma Kesselring earned single goals, with Emily Bobrek contributing an assist.
Both teams played on Thursday – and both would win, J-D hammering Cortland 15-3 and ESM holding off Syracuse 15-10.
The Red Rams raced out to a 10-1 halftime lead on the Purple Tigers, ultimately having nine different goal-scorers, with Dieroff and Archer each finding the net three times.
Burns had four assists to go with her lone goal as Lutz and Kailey McKenna both scored twice. MacLachlan and Emily Bobrek both had one goal and one assist as Riley LaTray and Chloe Loewenguth notched goals, too. Lily Loewenguth added an assist.
Meanwhile, ESM clinched a playoff spot in large part because it jumped all over Syracuse, bolting to an 11-5 advantage in the first half, enough to weather an uneven conclusion.
White couldn’t be stopped, scoring four times and adding four assists. Julianna Barton stepped up with three goals as Taylor Filmer had two goals and three assists, with Biel and Thomas also scoring twice. Orlando had the other goal as Julia Carauna and Emma Eckl picked up assists.
J-D had its own 19-2 win over Syracuse a night later. Dieroff (four goals, one assist) and McKenna (three goals, two assists) were helped by LaTray’s two goals and three assists. Bobrek, MacLachlan, Archer, Ali Durkin and Chloe Loewenguth also scored twice.
ESM, on Saturday, lost a wild 23-16 battle to Carthage where it paid for a poor start, falling behind the Comets 15-6 by halftime.
Trying to recover late, the Spartans had White and Filmer both get three goals and two assists, with Thomas and Biel also earning three-goal hat tricks. Barton and Katherine Andrus had two goals apiece. Carthage stayed in front thanks to Claire Odett’s nine goals and two assists, with Braelie Kempney adding four goals and six assists.
Christian Brothers Academy, fresh off a romp over Cicero-North Syracuse on May 5, struck again three nights later at home against state Class D no. 5-ranked Westhill, fighting its way past the Warriors 11-6.
This game brought back former CBA star Brittany Brigandi, now the Warriors’ head coach, to Alibrandi Stadium, and Westhill played a superb first half, controlling the tempo and building a 4-2 lead.
Once CBA (no. 10 in the state Class A rankings) started winning draws, though, the state Class A no. 10-ranked Brothers proved too difficult to contain as it roared in front behind four-goal outings by Anna Ziemba and Olivia Penoyer, Ziemba adding a pair of assists as she made the Warriors pay for the defensive attention given to the likes of Claire Jeschke and Grace Hulslander.
Gracie Britton had one goal and one assist as Amanda Winn and Bella Roberson also found the net. Tate Kohlbrenner and Grace Glowaki had one assist apiece as Iris Vinal had one of her best days in goal, stopping 10 of Westhill’s 16 shots.
From there, CBA went on to rout Chittenango 17-3 Thursday night, with Penoyer getting five goals and four assists as Ziemba got four goals and one assist. Britton, Glowaki and Gia Anthony each found the net twice as Kohlbrenner added one goal and one assist.
CBA won again Saturday on the road, topping Corning (Section IV) 15-9. Here, the first half was close, but after intermission the Brothers got away from the Hawks, outscoring them 9-4.
Jeschke amassed a season-best seven assists, her passes often going to Penoyer, who found the net six times. Hulslander and Ziemba had three goals apiece as Britton contributed a pair of goals. Glowaki added an assist.
